Grounding Elmo
by Irual
Summary: WhileDW and Co.are busy with T&T,Negs is busy with his own problems including tracking down Megs&working out how to keep St.Canard and his gang both old and new HIS as well as looking out for his family's best interests this is no life for public enemy#1
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: This story happens directly after chapter 14 of my fan fiction called Commitment Commencement and contains several original characters and in this continuity, Dirk Mallard A.K.A. Negaduck is Drake mallard's twin brother and he (meaning Dirk) has discovered that the Negaverse was a trap that held him captive for approximately 16 years. Now that he is free in the 'real' universe again, and has been reunited with Drake (in Hexes & Vexes) he is trying to balance his Negaduck side with figuring out how to be Dirk Mallard._

_Any characters that are from the Disney legacy of animated greatness are owned by the Disney Corporation and are used without permission for no money. I DO however LIVE for feedback so please feed me and enjoy the ride. Also I tend to have a lot of trouble with the villains so let me know if they are too out of character to be enjoyable or if you have any suggestions for improving the stories I am writing, thank you._

_---_

Dirk Mallard had to admit, cruising on the open road was something he didn't do nearly often enough. He tightened the fit of his red helmet and adjusted the tint on the visor that obscured his identity to compensate for the sunlight being reflected up off the pavement and grinned to himself as he felt his Anna shift slightly behind him as they pulled out onto the road from the gas station.

Dirk's Spell Chain tingled, but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Since he was actually only interested in finding his minion and was trying to remain inconspicuous he had even paid for the gas with his civilian credit card. Of course the fact that both he and his girl were dressed in tailored biker leathers instead of their usual villain outfits contributed to the disguise factor. What he didn't know was that the station's security cameras had snapped photos of him and his distinctive bike; which was why the Spell Chain had reacted.

Negaduck had added some removable decals to help disguise his bike but the metal studs and basic paint job in the fenders, gas tank and frame were still intact. That meant that anyone who was familiar with The Troublemaker would have no difficulty recognizing the motorcycle IF they were looking for it; especially since the front fender in particular was very distinctive and a fairly unique custom made piece.

Dirk didn't realize it, but the chain's shielding had slightly blurred the camera's images to keep him and his companion safe from detection by anyone scanning the camera's data unless they also wore Spell Chain. He also didn't know it but the string of charms that he had gotten from Granny Babalawo back in May was also highly active.

The charms and the Spell Chain had absorbed the healing nanites that had fallen on him from Professor Ludwig's experimental canisters when he had stolen them while most of the city was occupied with the fund raiser for the orphanage last Thursday. The charms had reacted to this along with the Spell Chain and Dirk wasn't sure what, if anything he should do about it. In fact the only reason he knew that had happened at all was that he had gone from being badly hurt with what was likely a cracked skull and concussion to being entirely healthy by the time he had driven home from the heist and he figured that the massive tingling that had gone on while he improved HAD to have been from the Chain.

He HAD been a little cautious about driving the motor bike but his vision had been clear and his reactions steady before they had gone more than a couple of blocks. It was this improvement that had alerted him to the fact that something very unusual was happening.

In fact Muscovy had been quite solicitous as she had run her fingers over his head feathers and curved herself against him on the Troublemaker as they had made their escape from Professor Von Drake's hotel room. She had been very concerned since his feathers had been liberally splattered with blood and she had actually seen him being attacked. Her glad exclamation as she had discovered his improvement had made his feathers fluff and that was when he had realized that she must have had a way to track him in order to show up so fortuitously after Black Secret had made her move.

When he had changed and showered after returning to his penthouse apartment on the top floor of St. Canard Tower, Dirk HAD intended to make arrangements to be checked out in case he had a concussion, or if any of those side effects Ludwig had nattered on about had manifested. Instead he had felt more energized and alive than he had been since the adrenaline rush of escaping the Negaverse had worn off.

Taken a bit off guard by his sudden rush of health and vigor, he had fallen on Anna and spent a delightful few hours engaged in a lusty interrogation of her, her methods and her agenda. This being the case, he had put the issue of the loose nanites and they way his Spell Chain now had tiny disks that were likely the nanites woven into it out of his mind. He did remember very well that the intact camouflage cloth was tucked away in the inner lining of his biker leathers though; he was hoping to try out some of it's disguise capacity on this trip.

Under his leather jacket Dirk was also wearing his red turtleneck that usually resided under his yellow, double breasted costume jacket but it was Anna's touch that warmed him from his head to his toes and made him unzip the front of the jacket a little. In spite of himself Dirk relaxed a little more in the seat as Anna finished adjusting her grip around his waist and leaned into his back. Her undeniably feminine curves fit perfectly against him as she shifted with him to balance the Troublemaker around the long curve of the road that led up the coast toward the northern boarder.

They had left St. Canard early this morning, fortunately he had already loaded the built in compartments of his motorcycle with various tools, weapons and spare costume parts before his plans had abruptly shifted to include her. If Dirk Mallard had thought a bit more about the situation, he might have wondered why the thought of leaving Anna back in St. Canard had been so disconcerting to him. And he also might have wondered why he had decided so quickly to not only trust her with his body but to include her in a personal project that involved his Negaduck side and one of his gang. But the Spell Chain wasn't the only thing working to connect them and between that and his hormones Dirk and Negaduck were as helpless around her as his twin was in objecting around Morgana Macabre, he just hadn't admitted it to himself yet.

Ordinarily of course he wouldn't have bothered with a helmet, but he had adjusted the black helmet he had gotten over the Fourth of July weekend to fit Anna and she had refused to wear it unless he wore one too. Wearing the red helmet that matched his costume slouch hat had made room for a first aid kit and her somewhat provocative 'working costume' as well as a few extra tools so he had allowed her this small victory. Dirk had also noticed how she had become unquestioning and obedient in everything else after he had given her a stern warning and that pleased his ego. On the other hand though, he wasn't going to be able to count on watching over her every minute and IF this was going to work he needed someone who could think for themselves.

Her little stunt with the trackers had been a good sign of initiative, and her obedience was refreshing; as was her intelligence so he decided to enjoy the feel of her against him and concentrate on getting further away from St. Canard before turning on his electromagnetic scanner. Finding Megavolt would be pretty simple IF the dazed rodent used his powers much, otherwise the legwork might take longer than he had to spare.

With that raven with the ridiculous name, Black Secret still loose and gunning for him; people would get the wrong idea if he stayed incognito for long or let the insult of her attack go unanswered. If he didn't get any solid leads or actually find Megs in a week, he'd go back to St. Canard, gather up the rest of the gang and try again; but this was a good opportunity to really figure out what was going on between him and Anna/Muscovy.

He grimaced and made a mental note to think of her only as Muscovy and himself as Negaduck until they got back. After all, he couldn't afford to get sentimental just now and nether could she. This attempt at logic and denying his feelings wasn't that effective even in his own mind since Negaduck tried and failed to suppress his reaction of pleasure as they road clenched tightly together but he DID try.

---

Megavolt peered worriedly from his hiding place behind the laser bunker as the generators hummed and cycled up to full power again. He knew that he'd been here for a few days; his insulating jumpsuit was dirty and his battery needed another recharge also he was starting to feel lightheaded again which he knew was a bad sign. He cradled his sore arm protectively against his chest and glared accusingly at the generators hubs buried just up the hill from his current hiding place. Megavolt was tired in more than just his body, but he couldn't go home even if he remembered where his lighthouse was. There was something important in the building down there and he couldn't leave without it…even if he DIDN'T remember exactly what it was.

Moving cautiously down the fairly heavily wooded slope, Megavolt waited while the distinctively uniformed Eggmen below changed places with the pair that had driven him to hide earlier. It would have been easy enough to short them out; they only patrolled in pairs after all. But the strange bearish creature that had nearly twisted his arm off and thrown him out after his last attempt at getting inside the generator station had been surprisingly resistant to being shocked and Megavolt didn't dare risk getting close enough to be caught again.

Flattening his ears tightly to his skull and flexing his whiskers, Megavolt tried to decide what to do but trying to think made Megavolt even more nervous than he had been before the guards had changed. Even the hum of the power plant deep inside the ridge of earth he was standing on wasn't much comfort since the power was being used to thwart his attempts to get inside; at least he had plenty of opportunity to recharge with all the energy being used here.

Megavolt's eyes narrowed behind his blue goggles as his sensitive ears picked up the faint sound of trickling water. Suddenly unbearably thirsty he moved to look for the water; maybe he could find a different way inside if he circled the area a bit.

---

Negaduck sighed; they were far enough away from the outer city limits and the smaller towns that clung close to the outskirts of the urban center there that most of the really big energy signatures should be out of range. Almost regretting that the fairly carefree part of this endeavor was over, he braced himself and admitted that it was time he got his mind on business. Muscovy felt the tension in his back as he shifted to reach the switch of his electromagnetic scanner and she too became engrossed in her professional mode. She knew that even with the lust they shared, Negaduck wouldn't give her a second chance if she allowed her feelings to interfere with their objectives.

Negaduck opened the channel and waited while the tiny receiver calibrated itself and then lifted his head to look into his rearview mirrors. His sensitive hearing had picked up an unusual sound and his instincts had just jumped to hyper alert mode. Getting off the Troublemaker and pushing it further off the road he moved it behind a large billboard. Gesturing to Muscovy to remain hidden and quiet he adjusted his visor and polarized the facial shield. As he watched the road, a large flatbed truck zoomed past in the middle of a convoy of heavily armed escorts that were superficially military…but something didn't add up. The covered load was being guarded by several sets of guards in plain dark camo jumpsuits and military styled helmets but something about the whole setup just didn't say military.

Absently he started to gesture to Muscovy to make sure she kept hidden but to his surprise she was already crouched behind the Troublemaker and watching the group of vehicles as they passed with her compact binoculars. Just as the payload swept past their position, a strong crosswind hit the tarp covering the truck revealing what he could swear were crates marked with the emblem of F.O.W.L. high command.

Intrigued in spite of himself, he got on the Troublemaker and revved the engine. Without asking questions, Muscovy slid on behind him and hung on tightly as he sent the powerful machine along the shoulder of the road. Tailing the convoy proved to be a little more difficult than he expected at first, but he persevered and soon pulled up to what looked like an old fire trail.

The dirt road was over grown and split off from the main, asphalt covered highway going along the cliffs by the coast and wasn't marked by any signage. However, his sharp observational skills had noticed the freshly broken bushes and multiple sets of fresh tire tracks and had turned off. Soon they came across a small, very sturdily built bridge that continued over a pond.

As the road narrowed even further; they passed one of the feeder streams that went into the pond and Negaduck was thoroughly startled as his scanner suddenly began beeping steadily. Shutting off the motorcycle he and Muscovy moved cautiously through the wooded area of scrub brush and their keen hearing picked up on an all too familiar sound; at least it was familiar to Negaduck….

KAZOT! POW! ZZZZZZZZT! "Ahhhhh!"

Negaduck recognized the sounds that usually happened when Megavolt used his electrical powers to zap people and charge things in order to get them to obey him and hurried forward while Muscovy drew her gun and followed him. She had never encountered any of the 'super villains' of St. Canard up close and personal, but she HAD been thoroughly briefed on the current crop of them as part of her training for S.H.U.S.H.'s Super Villain Retrieval Unit a few weeks ago.

And since she HAD been living in St. Canard and not under a rock she had guessed what the sounds they heard were. Negaduck HAD mentioned briefly that they were going looking for his missing gang member once he had decided to allow her to accompany him and it wasn't a big leap for her to have figured out that the sounds they were overhearing weren't natural OR peaceful so she was fully keyed up and eager for some action at last.

The two Avian's came to the edge of the clearing that was defined by a smattering of covering vegetation that grew up around the scattered trees along a ridge of rocks and saw a most unusual sight; even for residents of St. Canard. The electrified villain Megavolt was thrashing madly in the grip of some weird bear thing from a late night horror show. Megavolt's yellow insulating jumpsuit was dirty and had obvious rips in it. And in spite of his kicking and struggling Negaduck could see that the skinny rat was far thinner than he should have been and his struggles had an air of desperation that was MOST unusual for one of the Five.

The patches of different shades of grey fur that covered the bear's pelt in zigzag patterns did nothing to hide his obvious deformities. He was hugely over muscled and as the ducks continued to observe the battle Negaduck took note of how easily this deranged seeming creature shook off the effects of Megavolt's attacks.

Narrowing his eyes against the sunlight illuminating the scene, Negaduck saw that so far at least; the rodent was keeping well out of the bear's grip after having been unceremoniously dropped on his butt. Megavolt was clearly motivated but after zapping his enemy and getting in a telling blow to the bear's helmet with one of his kicks that had caused the bear to let out a tremendous roar and drop him to clutch at the headgear; Megavolt didn't disengage from the fray. Instead her staggered around flailing his arms as he tried to knock the bear's helmet off and reach towards the back of his opponent.

Dirk wasn't as encouraged by this development as he could have been, because even though Elmo was clearly trying to use some sort of tactics Negaduck could smell the sharp metallic tang of fresh blood and he could see that Megavolt moved as though he was hurt; Dirk's expression turned grim and killing pissed as he realized that Megavolt was trying to work up the energy to attack the bear again even though his left arm wasn't working right and the bear outweighed him by at least one hundred and fifty pounds.

Grumbling a bit Negaduck muttered, "I wonder what Megavolt think's he's doing! I thought even he had a better grasp on his survival instincts than that…"

Shaking off his irritation at his minion's lack of common sense, He readied himself for the coming confrontation and thought. 'This weirdo wasn't just fighting Megavolt anymore….' Now he was fighting Negaduck and he was going to PAY! Pulling a bolo out of his jacket Negaduck tied one of his black masks over Muscovy's eyes and them pulled one over his own face.

He gestured to his left and whispered, "The skinny rat in the jumpsuit is our objective Muscovy. I want him unhurt and able to talk and I'd rather not leave evidence that we are famed criminals from St. Canard but other than that all bets are off."

He grinned eerily and his lips barely brushed hers as he whispered, "Until we are done here anyway."

He paused as he took several plain black smoke bombs out of his jacket and handed a couple to her as well as one of his collapsible nets before continuing. "I want to see what you can do sweetheart but I know Megs; and that rat won't listen to anyone but me. You distract the big guy and STAY out of his way and reach. Once I get Megavolt hidden I'll circle back and we'll double team muscles."

Muscovy wanted to interject a couple of details but Dirk had already turned to face the coming fight so she remained silent. She HAD caught his compliment about being a famed criminal AND he had called her sweetheart which made her knees go weak for a precious second. Before she could lose it completely though, she shook her feathers to settle them and focused on her objective.

The best way for Negaduck to see what a good partner she was would be to show him that she wasn't going to waste this opportunity. The only way she could keep his interest would be to take advantage of this chance and she was nothing if not motivated as she stalked forward to distract the bear.

Moving quietly toward the bear using the undergrowth as cover Muscovy readied her gun and slid through the underbrush to find a good place to ambush the enemy. She had already decided to try and finish damaging the bear's helmet if she could since Megavolt had clearly already made substantial progress in doing so.

Once the bear was busy trying to make up for not having the helmet to protect his head it would be much easier to aim for his eyes, ears and face to force the bear to react the way she wanted him too. If the bear closed too quickly, then she could impress Negaduck with some of her hand to hand moves after tangling his legs or arms in the net.

Negaduck meanwhile waited until Megavolt unleashed what looked like a fairly substantial surge of electricity on the bear creature and staggered back before stepping forward to shout. "Today is a bad day for you meat!" Before firing off one of his gas bombs and grabbing the exhausted rat to pull him past the cover of the smoke while Muscovy's .44 magnum barked at the bear causing him to stagger back with a roar as the bullets impacted with his abused helmet.

Megavolt was very confused and clearly exhausted and he ALMOST didn't recognize Negaduck until the mallard growled in his ear, "Stop struggling Megavolt. It's ME you knob!"

At this he stopped trying to pull away from his rescuer and whined, "Boss? IT'S NOT my fault okay? What am I doing here alone anyway? I tried to get into the F.O.W.L. base but without Quacky or Licky or Bushroot I…."

Just then Megavolt accidentally jarred his broken arm and Negaduck bit back a curse as the rat's whiney high pitched objections/explanations faded into a muffled cry of pain.

Still crouching behind the tree Negaduck hissed, "Just stay still and shut your trap Megs. I'll take care of that thing and we'll go back to St. Canard tonight; I'll contact Bushroot to ready some of his homemade goop to help you with the pain and set your arm."

Megavolt KNEW that leaving wasn't what he was supposed to do but he didn't waste what little energy he had left arguing with Negaduck. Understanding instinctively that the mallard wasn't going to wait and hear him out even IF he could organize his thoughts better the remnants of Elmo Sputterspark's scientific genius surged to the front of his mind and offered an alternative plan.

Instead of trying to say anything to his boss, Megavolt crawled behind the tree and tucked his arm into the harness holding the battery on his back and snuck away. Once Negaduck and some other female duck he had never seen before were distracted by the strange bear thing he had been fighting, Megavolt continued circling the small clearing to get to the underground entrance he had found.

The door was still open from where he had fried the lock and it had swung open to reveal the tunnel he had been trying to get into and in just a few seconds the tall rat had disappeared underground. Negaduck didn't realize that his injured minion had disappeared into the tunnel entrance instead of remaining hidden in the bushes since he didn't know about the tunnel at all and he was busy trying to cripple the bear.

Negaduck was firing his pistol at the deformed creature as the bear was grabbing for Muscovy, and after firing off a quick round glanced towards the tree where he had left Megavolt. Negaduck realized that Megavolt had moved and somehow disappeared but other than sparing a curse for the rat's scrambled memory he had no time to spare for Megavolt at the moment.

Muscovy other hand was a joy for him to watch as she was using her martial arts training and agility to stay just out of the bear creature's reach. As Negaduck watched she almost succeeded in landing a blow on the back of his abused helmet with the butt of her gun before leaping back and using the net to tangle his feet and scooping her knife back up into a guard position from where it had fallen to the dirt.

Negaduck stepped in to bait the bear fellow and give Muscovy a breather and from his closer vantage point, Negaduck's keen observational skills showed him that there was far more wrong with the bear than he'd first thought. Granted, the fellow was HUGE even for a bear and even from a distance his extreme musculature was evident even to a casual glance. And the various scarred places and discolored patches on his enemy's body told anyone with a little experience in reading fur patterns that there were massive injuries under his torso and along his limbs.

But up close, even hardened as he was to physical violence and its consequences, Negaduck swallowed hard as the darkened faceplate of the white F.O.W.L. issued helmet popped open to reveal what passed for the bear's face. Negaduck struggled to hold onto the contents of his stomach at the sight that greeted him when he glanced at the bear's face within the helmet and bit back an exclamation of disgust.

He faintly heard what was most likely Muscovy scrambling to get into a favorable position to attack again but he couldn't tear his gaze away from the bear in order to check on her position. Not only was his opponent far too close to risk looking away from, but the bear was also very quick and it was all Negaduck could do to avoid what he thought were naturally overgrown claws on the bear's fingers as the digits swiped at his face.

Dodging adroitly, Negaduck began taking note of specifics in order to try and exploit any weaknesses in his opponent. One eye looked to have been replaced by what appeared to be some sort of a cybernetic substitute which all by itself wasn't so bad, but coming from the bear's neck and disappearing into the back of his head were a grotesque series of tubes and wires. Massive scaring had twisted his jaws and distorted his skull so that facially you couldn't really tell how he could eat or breathe comfortably.

Heck without the all encompassing helmet he was wearing, it wasn't likely the twisted unfortunate could walk down a street or do anything without the discomfort of being stared at or otherwise ostracized by others. Although given the fact that Negaduck had just noticed that the bear's front right claws had sliced through his tough leather jacket's outer layer without slowing down any, it wasn't likely anyone survived picking on the big guy no matter what he was wearing or not wearing as the case may be.

Negaduck could see where his bullet had bounced off the helmet and distorted the hinge of the faceplate; and he could smell blood as well as the scent of heavy, harsh, chemical musk coming off the bear in waves making his eyes water. The thick fur that covered the bear in a shaggy curtain meant that he couldn't tell if it was the bear's blood or Megavolt's he smelled though.

The bear on the other hand wasn't fazed by the fact that his helmet had popped open and used Negaduck's temporary distraction over his appearance to charge forward to grapple Negaduck intending to crush him in his embrace. Muscovy on the other hand was now recovered from her first encounter and leaped back into the fray, she had pulled a second knife from somewhere on her person after tossing away the first one with a curse since it appeared to have been badly twisted and part of the blade had snapped off from hitting something on the bear's body.

Muscovy circled the fight trying to get close enough to hamstring the creature with her new weapon and as she tried to get into position, she stole a glance at her mallard to make certain he was alright. Negaduck snapped out of his hesitation and danced backwards as he pulled his Australian bush-knife from under his leather jacket and lunged trying to duck under the bear's grasp and plunge the knife into his body.

---

Meanwhile, Megavolt was working his way down the tunnel following the whine of the massive turbines to get to his objective. He was actually feeling quite proud of how well he had held onto his memory over the last few days but he wasn't really sure what he was supposed to do once he got to the energy station that powered the F.O.W.L. instillation.

Peering anxiously into the next room he saw a faintly familiar sight. The large room was dominated by a globe of glowing energy that hovered in the center of the series of generators he had followed to find this place almost three weeks ago. Floating within the globe was a very slender rat-like female who was dressed in a yellow F.O.W.L. jumpsuit and bound with plastic restraints that kept her hands and feet tied close together. Her face showed bruising and one eye was swelled shut and as Elmo observed her, he felt an unfamiliar sensation in his chest.

She spun helplessly in the center of the globe and as Megavolt watched several pairs of Eggmen marched into the room and stationed themselves around the globe while she groaned and looked very dizzy and sick. Several lab coated duck styled Avians also came in and He felt a violent surge of energy at the sounds of her distress and without thinking about it he unleashed a large burst of energy into the nearest generator he could reach before sucking a full charge back out of it. Then he began firing bolts of electricity at the eggmen from his fingers, pointing at them like a gunfighter in an old western movie. The generator he had messed with was making a disturbingly high pitched sound as distressed metals gave way under the strain of the fluctuating energy output.

Ignoring this Megavolt growled, "Eat wattage FREAKS!"

The young girl rat heard him and gasped, "Megsy! You should have escaped while you had the chance!"

The generator that had been protesting its abuse began to smoke and shut down causing the other generators to strain to take up the load and Megavolt's eyes lit as his brain realized that this was likely his best chance to rescue her. His frazzled brain gave him a few flashes of the last few days and with an anguished hiss he finished knocking out the rest of the F.O.W.L. personnel and turned back towards the female rat.

Frustrated at his inability to remember her name Megavolt called out to the female and said, "I couldn't leave you. "

Just then there was another high pitched whiney noise from the generator next to the one that was smoking and one of the generator beams holding the other rat prisoner flickered and died causing the entire room to fill with what was most likely the sounds of the remaining overstressed generators getting ready to explode.

The young rat fell headlong towards the floor and Megavolt rushed forward to try and catch her. He tripped over one of the unconscious eggmen and fell forward onto his injured arm with a shriek. The adrenaline that had been keeping his mind off his injuries wasn't able to protect him from this fresh assault and the last thing he felt was the impact of his lady as she landed on his back and cried out herself at the impact of her stomach on his abused battery.

Outside Negaduck was having his own problems as the huge bear he and Muscovy were fighting continued to lumber about apparently impervious to their hand weapons. His favorite Australian bush knife was designed to cut tough hide as well as being sturdy enough to use as a multipurpose tool but something in the bear's body was making cutting him much more difficult than it should have been. The edges of his knife were now practically useless and frustrated he started to grab his second holdout gun…. When the bear lunged with unexpected speed and grabbed the blade and attempted to swipe murderous claws at Negaduck's face.

Muscovy saw this and charged the bear from behind using her own knife to try and pry the remains of the bear's helmet off to make his head vulnerable. Negaduck growled as he felt his jacket and shirt tear and his Spell Chain buzzed in his ear like a nest of angry wasps as he felt impact with his flesh through his feathers, but there was no pain. Instead he felt horror as the bear's other massive arm reached behind himself to grab Muscovy and shake her like a rag doll before he savaged her with his teeth at her neck and threw her at Negaduck.

Negaduck staggered under her weight as her body hit him but he kept his wits despite the singing pit of dread where his battered heart had been as his reflexes proved that he like his heroic counterpart was far more than ordinary. Managing to catch her he held her close not knowing that a tear was trickling down his facial feathers.

Carefully setting her down and ignoring the fact that he now had his blood and hers trickling down their bodies, he roared incoherently and charged the bear. Caught off guard by this head on charge, the bear turned to try and face the mallard but Dirk wasn't himself anymore. Displaying an uncharacteristic lack of tactics, Dirk Mallard lunged for the bear and tore at his enemy with the point of his knife and the bear crumpled as the tendons at the back of his knee gave way to the knifepoint. The bear swiped desperately at Negaduck who was thrown back against the tree that he had put Muscovy beside. As the bear dragged himself forward, the ground trembled and shook causing all the lesser birds and animals around to flee…just as the forest gave way to the energy released by the underground generators giving up and exploding.

_---_

_Hi everyone, this chapter introduces yet another original character of mine. This one for Megavolt, in case you haven't figured that part out…ha! And a new villainous character that actually opposes the Five and Negs. I plan on going into more detail about them next chapter and I am already working on the next bit so please forgive me the cliffhanger and review this if you can. _

_In this plot I am hoping to get some suggestions for plots and questions you want answered just keep in mind that DW, LP, the Muddlefoot's and Morgana are occupied in Duckburg so in plot the only answers about them will happen as flashes from Trials and Tribulations. Thank you in advance for your patience and feedback. Your friend Irual_


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: All of the characters from Disney's library of cartoon greatness belong to them and not to me. I am borrowing them without permission ONLY to tell these stories for the entertainment of you the readers and for no monetary gains of any kind. Please review and feel free to suggest plot ideas or ask questions and I will do my best to answer you in story. Even if I don't privately reply I DO read everything I get and your responses are what keep me going both here and at my actual job since I am in retail sales which is full of stress ha! Thank you in advance for your responses and enjoy, your friend Irual._

Drake Mallard was snuggled beside his fiancée Morgana Macabre and despite the fact that he seemed to attract fate's whim, for once he was peacefully resting without any of his usual drama or chaos intruding. While they slept, Morgana's house kept watch over its occupants.

The gargoyles and other guardians were a bit restless even though there was no sign of trouble. This time of night Morgana and the other mage-born and Monster-kind were usually active and doing things instead of sleeping and this change in routine was quite disturbing. Particularly for the doorknocker and the gargoyle that pretended to be a piece of statuary on the wall beside the large mirror in the front hall. They were wide awake, restless and bored so they decided to connect to the Oracle pool and look in on some of the other gargoyles to see if there was any good gossip around to tell the others before the mistress and her guests woke up. Admittedly doing this wasn't necessarily a great idea. It would mean taking a chance on being caught away from their posts since Lady Lucidia and Lord Spellbinder were in residence and probably awake, but the other guardians had agreed to keep watch while they checked for news so no one was really worried about anything negative happening because of their snooping around.

After relinquishing his place and tying Ahab to the door and Tashtego to had agreed to patrol the halls, the doorknocker; Fedallah and the statue that appeared to be a foot long bombardier beetle left their places to duck into the doorway to the Macabre haven.

It looked like an ordinary sort of knickknack sitting on the shelf beside the rack that held the cups, mugs and other drinking vessels that had handles to thread through the pegs they hung on beside the wood burning stove in the kitchen. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a small replica of the castle and lands surrounding the Macabre estate covered with a glass globe filled with clear liquid.

However, once the two guardians focused on what they wanted to do and touched the surface of the haven, between one blink and another they disappeared from the kitchen and landed gently in what appeared to be a dimly lit cave. The floor of the cave was covered with hard packed sand and neither of their footfalls made marks on the floor as they crossed towards the pools of water at the far side of the cave….

Pausing beside the first pool, the shallowest and easiest to look into from the shore; Fedallah was careful not to disturb the surface of the water as he leaned over the pool with the other gargoyle. Before they could decide whom in particular to look for though they were taken by a vision of Granny Babalawo and she was not happy about something. Unlike the Macabre clan, the Beagle's seldom wanted or needed Kindred to balance them; so Granny didn't have a familiar per se.

But from what they were seeing she was regretting the lack of allies and extra resources just now since her workbench was littered with the remains of her charms and talismans and from the scorched bits and pieces in the vision, she was suffering some sort of magical setback in her work. The Beagle clan was nowhere near as accessible as the other clans since almost all of them were not only Normal-born they also lived beyond the boundaries. That meant that this was a good chance to find something out that none of the others would even suspect was a possibility, so they settled in to watch her for a bit.

As they watched, she swept the ruined bits and pieces off the workbench and scowled in an irritated way at something to her right. There in the water's reflection was a strange creature made of water, and he looked vaguely dog-shaped until he sloshed into a puddle and then stretched to become a swirling tower of water. At this, Granny looked very angry and gestured with a shake of her bangle covered wrist and the water creature found itself looking out from a large sealed Quackerware container as she set him on her counter and frowned at yet another interruption.

The two guardians were soon caught up in the spectacle of a pair of battered ducks who staggered into Granny's parlor room. The male duck was clearly in no mood to play nice as he carried his female companion in and placed her tenderly on the sofa before turning to glare at the various beagles that had followed him into the room. He actually started to brandish a somewhat ill-used bush knife at them but it was Granny Babalawo's imperious gesture that made the unsavory crew back down and leave the ducks alone with her.

As the drama continued, showing the mallard styled duck clearly trying to convince Granny Beagle to do or make something the gargoyle's realized that they had been gone from their posts for far longer than they should have been. Even though the Haven would transport them back almost instantaneously they were going to have to wait to see what happened some other time. They were still loyal guardians after all and according to Tashtego the senior mages were waking up. It was definitely time to go, as much as they hated to. Since Lady Lucidia and Mintaka were going to portal everyone to Duckburg for the trial, returning to Macabre manor too close in time to the portal spells could cause a disruption in the energy and get them caught. And since neither one of them wanted that, both guardians headed back with commendable speed not seeing Mintaka show up in the pool's vision….

Shortly there after, the house was again deserted as everyone had gone to Duckburg for the duration of the trial there. And even though no one had said anything about their leaving their posts temporarily, Fedallah and Indigo had been more than a little anxious to tell their tale and had been relived when the house was finally empty of mages. The Mistress had been very stern and had left strict instructions that none of the guardians or allied creatures was to leave the house unless summoned by either herself or Lady Lucidia or Lord Spellbinder and all of them had known that she meant it but that was alright since going into the Macabre haven wasn't really the same as leaving the house and all the guardians were eager to see and hear more.

Mintaka Spellbinder Macabre was a powerful Mage-born in his own right and married to Lucidia Macabre a Seer and co-member of the council so he really was used to having something interrupt his usual routine fairly often but he had to admit that this was something he hadn't ever considered…not really. They had all come to Duckburg to support Morgana and Drake as they tried to help young Honker Muddlefoot and the rest of his family. At first they had tried to stay in a hotel, but the relentless press exposure was taking a toll on all of them and now this!

Standing quietly at the boundary of Granny Babalawo Beagle's territory with commendable patience he waited while yet another beagle tried to intimidate him. Grimm simply yawned showing his gleaming ivory fangs and casually kept shredding the log beside the trail with his six inch claws fully extended and the beagle gulped and ran off towards the house yelling for someone named Ma. Ignoring this, Granny herself approached and offered a formal curtsey which he answered with a courtly bow of his own as Grimm padded forward to offer his throat to her.

Surprised at this intimate gesture Granny gave Grimm and his master another quiet look before saying, "By the Creator's grace I ask you to accept my hospitality and offer you the key to my wards."

Mintaka was a little put off by the different phrasing she used in her formal offer; but he didn't let that show as he stepped forward to offer a sphere of his power to the old Beagle female. She accepted the clear bluish sphere and quietly offered her own in return and after the exchange they moved toward the house. Granny sighed; the flavor of Mintaka's offering was like nothing she had experienced before and his buoyant energy was surging through her like a fine wine. Mintaka and Grimm were also pleasantly surprised by how vibrant Granny Beagle's power felt and despite her family's well known criminal ways her power held none of the taint of dark path magic that they had feared.

Stepping past the fear laden younger Beagles into the front parlor room he breathed in the scent of strength and determination that was coming from the couch and was unsurprised to see Drake's brother Dirk Mallard trying to sit up and face them. And despite the fact that he was supporting an injured female duck whose arms were wrapped around him, he was making progress towards his goal. And as a sharp stab of pain hit them Grimm and Mintaka knew that like his brother, the duck on the sofa wasn't going to let something like his own bodies hurts stop him; much less anyone or anything else since his companion was also badly hurt.

Mintaka couldn't really regret having taken an interest in, and a small amount of responsibility for; Drake and now Dirk, but clearly those two were far too much alike and both of them lacked sense when their loved ones were hurt. Grimm made no comments but went to place a huge paw on the leather clad duck's chest and flexed his paw pad to show his claws slightly and Dirk went absolutely still.

His harsh breathing and the fresh blood that liberally splattered both ducks plumes were fairly obvious indicators that their injuries were quite recent and from the pain now throbbing through the Chain, they had been badly hurt but Granny seemed quite calm as she moved unhurriedly to her chair and settled herself there.

Mintaka had already felt their injuries through the piece of Spell Chain he wore and Lucidia's shared visions had shown him the impressive crater that had been created when Dirk had fought to free himself and his clan members from captivity as well as parts of the fight. Her ability's as a seer had also flashed them both scenes of those jumpsuit clad Normals escaping some sort of encampment to the North while Dirk and his group had headed south so the senior mage wasn't as apprehensive as he otherwise might have been while confronting the mallard.

But Dirk was crippled in different ways from his brother and neither Mintaka nor Grimm wanted to misunderstand what was going on so after nodding to Granny he settled on the coffee table and waited for Dirk to speak. As he waited though, Mintaka was surprised to realize that he felt another one of Dirk's clan here somewhere.

Grimm breathed in the scent of the ducks on the sofa and snorted loudly to clear his nose saying to his chosen, 'the healing spells in the chain have stabilized them but…they need care chosen. Even if they will not willingly accept it from us, Drake is already feeling the strain from this whole trial business. He thinks his anxiety and sleeplessness is a reaction to the trial and everything that is happening to the Muddlefoot's but his nightmares last night are from what happened to Dirk and with his twin injured…I am not entirely sure how well Drake will react if Dirk remains hurt and without his Clan. If Morgana hadn't been right there on the couch with him and he hadn't seen with his own eyes that she, Lucidia, Gosalyn and the other females were alright as he awakened from the nightmare….'

Still careful not to react outwardly Mintaka agreed, 'true enough Grimm. This twin is far more volatile though and his control is still uncertain so we had best go about this in as forthright a way as we can.'

Grimm replied, 'He is used to being cheated and for others to try and use him for their own purposes. He has no idea that the Chain connects its wearers after all and he has very little reason to trust us.'

Ignoring Grimm which all by itself was a pretty impressive feat, Negaduck tried to say something to the mage and reached with one hand to try and push Grimm's paw off his chest. But the healing spell in his Chain activated on a deeper level as Mintaka touched him and he fell unconscious before he could ask about Muscovy or do more than try to speak at all.

Looking past Dirk, Mintaka pursed his lips and carefully examined his companion since she had been unconscious before being so carefully placed on the overstuffed sofa. Mintaka and Grimm could feel the Spell Chain through their own piece of the original metalwork and they knew that the doubled twist of chain around the female's slender neck had split off from Dirk's piece.

And it hardly took more than average eyesight and a decent sense of smell to tell that both of the Normal-born ducks were badly hurt. And it didn't take a strong Mage-born to know that if it hadn't been for the healing and protective spells that were inherent in the metal they were both bound to now; they would most likely would already be dead.

Bracing himself Mintaka had Grimm stay touching Dirk and the other youngster to keep them quiet while he turned to speak to Granny Babalawo Beagle saying courteously, "I regret that we have only just met. You are gracious indeed to offer them sanctuary until I could come for them."

At this Granny let loose with a soft chuckle quite at odds with the much more traditional and eerie witches cackle that was the more dramatic mage-born and monster-kind usually used within the Realm. She gazed quietly out the front window at the huge heirloom rose bush that sprawled out into the yard for a moment before turning her attention to the sofa and then to her unconscious guests.

Sounding darker than her laughter, Granny Babalawo admitted a bit grudgingly, "Its gentile of you to say so…."

Her eyes narrowed behind her mask as she continued in an even softer tone, "And I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell HIM this but; its not as if I could have turned him or his mate away."

She got up as Ma Beagle tapped on the doorframe and calmly requested tea from that worthy before turning to her work bench and gesturing gracefully to the carved bits of wood, stone, crystal and bone organized there. Once Ma Beagle had brought the tea and left with more haste than dignity to fix food for their guest; Mintaka politely waited for Granny's permissive nod before looking at the workbench with his Mage sight.

Grimm purred and settled Dirk back against the couch cushions before sniffing at the masked female and said to his mage, 'we have time chosen, but they need at least a dose of Lucidia's restorative and we should show them the bindings so they are aware of what they can expect from us.'

Grimm settled himself beside the sofa and focused himself to portal in what he wanted; and Mintaka could almost swear a note of…remorse entered his companion's mental tone as he finished saying gently, 'Besides, Drake trusted us…but for this one it is more like a conquest than a seduction. And no one has been gentle about anything for him since he was taken from Drake's arms when they were younger than Gosalyn is now.'

Mintaka swallowed a lump in his throat at this confirmation that Drake and Dirk had suffered for so long apart from each other, and without Kin or Clan to support them until now of course; and turned his attention resolutely to the work bench and realized that these items were most likely how Granny Babalawo focused and channeled her magical energy. Instead of using complex calculations, chants or potions she was far more like him. She crafted these tokens and charms and imbued them with the power that activated their purposes.

He also noticed that there was a very large bowl with a sealed lid beside the workbench that sloshed slightly and most contained the water creature called Bud or Liquidator! He DID wonder if maybe that had been what Dirk had been trying to ask about before becoming unconscious but that could wait for a bit. Putting his feelings about Drake and Dirk aside and deciding to bring up the water dog after establishing himself with Granny since Bud was apparently unharmed, just encased for now.

Mintaka was careful not to disturb the energies in the tiny shapes as he said, "I think we have a great deal in common…and in exchange for your continued hospitality and kindness towards the younglings…I thought you might like to exchange some of the history behind their current troubles and possibly some of my work?"

Anticipating his mage's needs, Grimm carefully teleported in one of their empty, imbued potion bottles that would hold any number of potions and doses without mixing them up or spilling them although this design did have one flaw. You had to use up all of a certain potion before you could access the next one you had placed in the bottle; and they came out in reverse order from how you put the potions into the container.

Still, perfecting the spells involved in and the design of these glass and metal bottles had been one of their very first successful innovations and they still kept their hand in with making and enchanting them. Mintaka and Grimm hoped that by making this gift to Granny they could open the way for her to become an ally or at least a favored acquaintance…. She and her kinfolks had been living and thriving among Normals for generations and if the council's population expansion was going to succeed then others were going to have to learn to do the same.

Granny wasn't stupid or inexperienced, she knew the rarity and worth of what was clearly a master craft-mage's gift and his request for more details was hardly enough to warrant more than tea and sandwiches in return so for him to openly offer her a personally enchanted object meant he something far more formal and she found that her usual calm detachment deserted her for a moment at the thought of connecting more to the magical community.

She didn't regret her Clan's decision to remain outside the boundaries of the magical realm, but from her taste of his power she knew that this Mintaka was well balanced, and had no reason to covet her knowledge other than for his own edification and the thought of being able to be with and perhaps even learn from others who were able to access magical energy was very tempting.

This being the case she poured Mintaka a cup of tea and offered, "Well that Negaduck fellow as he fancies himself accepted a small string of my charms a few weeks back when he and my kinfolks were trying to sort out the situation with that Dark Adept you all had a hand in putting down. And somehow or other he seems to have paid me back all too well for my busy bodying since they have melded with that chain he is bonded to. And since I don't dabble in the dark path and have no desire to accumulate bad karma that I will have to face when the creator calls me to judgment; and since my power still resonates in the protections I built into those charms, leaving him to die wasn't an option."

Mintaka nodded and made sure that Granny saw the twist of chain wound around his wrist and added gently, "And of course, with someone like him, his oaths include his loved ones…which only serves to make your dilemma and mine a bit more poignant don't you think?"

She couldn't find it truthful to disagree, so instead she offered, "true enough and it seems as though the Dark bird's handiwork is still with us in more ways than that."

She had noticed that Mintaka had seen the water dog and since he was a craft-mage too, Granny actually hoped to coax the other mage into helping her with the knotty problem that Bud represented. she sighed to herself and admitted reluctantly that it was likely that the more ordinary duck that had been possessed Quackerjack, was likely not done with her yet either. She had hoped that by helping the other three of their clan she had made up for not attempting to free or heal those two; but she was old enough and wise enough to admit that she should have known better.

Mintaka reached along his ties to Lucidia as he calmly accepted and drank a cup of tea. She would be able to sense if anything went amiss with their connections open, and she needed to know about Dirk so she could keep Drake focused.

As they were conversing neither of them noticed a tiny starling as it watched them from the roses outside, but Grimm was very aware that the song bird was far from an ordinary creature. Back inside the parlor Mintaka had used his round, polished metal disk to contact Lucidia so that Granny could hear and see the conversation and quietly asked for her restorative and some of his tools from his travel bag in Duckburg.

Lucidia understood what he was doing and not only sent him what he asked for she sent him what he needed. He felt her energy and support and stood a little straighter as he crossed to the workbench with his bag and after asking for permission, he began to set up a tiny workspace. Grimm allowed Dirk to move toward consciousness and carefully blocked his reaction of panic to keep him calm, while Mintaka administered the restorative to both the ducks on the sofa.

Granny watched with interest as Mintaka focused his power on Dirk and while the other Avian was distracted by his body's healing he coaxed a little more from the duck. Setting the metal disk beside the coffee table he watched with Granny as Dirk's memories flowed into images that told what had happened, or at least some of it….

As they watched, they saw the leather clad pair of ducks and a pair of slender rats escaping from a large mound of dirt and debris and leaving the area on an ATV and a black, red and yellow motorcycle. They were clearly badly hurt but both Granny Babalawo and Mintaka started intently at the young female rat as she turned and used some sort of energy link to cause the entire disrupted hillside and rocky earth to shift and surge like water before settling back.

It looked like a pot of soup that had been vigorously boiled and stirred and frozen without being allowed to settle back into the pot. Uprooted trees and bushes lay tossed every which way. Their roots were exposed and leaves were torn off, most of the area of the little cup of a space that had held the crater was now a dusty mess that was slowly becoming damp as two different streams whose beds had been destroyed soaked the ground. Concerned, they hoped to see more of her using her powers; but Negaduck's memories were now mainly concerned with surviving and saving his mate so the vision turned to follow them as they drove directly to what should have been a hidden trail that had brought them close to the beagle's homestead and the rats curled up obediently as Negaduck carried the female the rest of the way to Granny and forced his way in.

Elmo was tired, dirty and happier than he could remember being in his life as he waited in the woods for Negaduck to come back. He felt quite clearheaded, and knew that Negaduck wouldn't tolerate any disobedience but even though he felt concern over Negaduck he couldn't help but feel happy as he gazed at the girl rat beside him. Of course, he usually didn't remember things like dates or particular events very well; but this was different.

He was nestled in a hollow of roots under a large willow not too near a creek with the young rat-like female he had been trying to rescue from F.O.W.L.. And despite their grimy appearances and the evidence of rough treatment that the girl sported like her swollen and blackened eye his broken arm was most likely their worst injury. Negaduck and the female duck he had brought with him had been far more injured than they by the time they had all escaped from the base they had destroyed.

But Negaduck had ordered Megavolt to stay hidden with the girl rat while he went to bargain for help and aside from the fact that both Elmo and Megavolt were used to obeying the short mallard; he had been very dizzy from using his powers to destroy the base and bury that hideous bear so that Negaduck could carry the female duck away from the base.

So he hadn't protested at being ordered to stay with his prize, she on the other hand had been getting stronger and stronger as they had run through the wooded hills and once she had gotten a short distance away from the former F.O.W.L. base, she had even helped Megavolt along and half carried him while keeping up with the surprising pace Negaduck had set. Megavolt vaguely remembered that she had held him in front of her on an A.T.V. they had stolen from the base while Negaduck had ridden his motorcycle while keeping that …Mossy or whoever tied to him with their jackets. And he clearly remembered keeping a tight hold on the girl he was cuddling with, but…

Not realizing he was wearing a silly grin, the thin rat-like male took a deep breath and snuggled a little closer to the enchanting object of his affections. Gina, that was her name…he was sure of it, but just in case he asked hesitantly, "Gina?"

And to his delight she responded by turning over to face him in the sheltered hollow of tree roots they were cuddled together in and muttered sleepily, "Go back to sleep Elmo, the earth here is rich and fertile and I need to feel the ground for a while longer."

She kissed his nose and opened an eye to continue, sounding a little more alert, "Don't worry, if that duck boss of yours doesn't come back, we'll find him and then I'll go with you to see your lighthouse."

Her kiss sent delicious shivers through him and to his surprise the constant buzzing and tingling that had been building in him and that usually heralded his short circuiting himself either from a buildup of excess charge, or from getting wet faded. Before he could do more than realize what had happened though he fell asleep with her cradled in his arms to wait for Negaduck to return.

Gina Gaia was not a fool, she had seen just how badly hurt the Avian's were and honestly doubted they would return, but she wasn't going to argue with Megy over it now. If they did return then well and good, evidently the male was very important to Elmo and she would respect that, for now. But…she wasn't going to take any chances on being captured by F.O.W.L. or anyone else ever again.

Being cut off from the earth had been horrible! And burying that place by undermining the layers of rock and then getting them this far had taken most of what strength she had left. The earth here was rich and generous and a few hours rest would do them both good, there would be time enough to satisfy Elmo's sense of loyalty by searching for those duck's bodies later. Pulling the hateful F.O.W.L. issued jumpsuit a little looser so she could feel Elmo's energy and body heat better, Gina relaxed and snuggled next to her rescuer to await developments.

Liquidator meanwhile had been getting an eyeful as he watched the two mages converse. He could hear them through the Quackerware bowl but he had to concentrate to do so and after they became engrossed in watching something in the tall duck-like fellow's polished metal disk he found that the effort involved in eavesdropping wasn't worth the reward since they didn't talk as they watched but he did observe Negaduck and the female in a matching mask and biker leathers as they were rapidly improving.

He was actually glad of that, Negaduck was harsh and demanding, but being the only water dog around meant that Bud and Liquidator both valued the other members of the Five since they were his family and seeing his boss so badly torn up had nearly made him nauseas. This had thrown both Liquidator and Bud for quite a loop but now he was feeling much better. He was still upset that that female had trapped him in Quackerware; clearly she had borrowed a page from Darkwing's book, which was a minor inconvenience…but Liquidator is no ordinary salesman and he knows how to be persistent and for now he and Bud have decided that it's best to bide his time and try a new sales pitch later.

_In the next bit I am hoping to explain about liquidator some and I am going to post King's & Pawns chapter one which also ties into this story and Trials & Tribulations. Please read and review and as always I am open to plot suggestions, requests, and LIVE for feedback so feed me! Thanks, your friend Irual_


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: All of Disney's characters belong to them and are being used to tell these stories without permission and for NO money so please review since feedback encourages me. All the original characters belong to me and I made them up to flesh out the population and give the characters others to interact with. Please enjoy and now on with the plot_

_ Qu_ietly Grimm settled himself next to the sofa; from the looks of things…Mintaka was going to be quite busy here for a while. Fortunately, the trial mess in Duckburg wasn't a problem that used or needed mage energy and other than the simple garments they had made for the court appearances and the wards that would warn them of trouble they hadn't used much mage energy in the past week. Lucidia and Morgana were with Drake, Gosalyn and the Muddlefoot's and with the mental and spiritual bonds between his chosen and Lucidia fully active again it wasn't like either of their responsibilities were going to be handled as a solo act.

But that didn't mean this wasn't going to be tricky or that they had the luxury of turning down any help; this being the case Grimm made a tiny opening in his defenses and waited for the unbound Kin outside the house to contact him. Still carefully hiding most of himself from the Beagle female, Grimm offered,_ 'I think we had better show this Clan some of what they have forgotten…both the responsibilities and the rewards chosen.'_

Mintaka had to admit he was surprised at this, but he was careful to keep setting up the tiny glass-working area and his metalworking tools without betraying his surprise as he considered Granny Babalawo and then agreed. _'certainly Grimm, I think a demonstration of how we work together would be a good beginning, from the remnants of the charms in her basket there I am guessing she is trying to make something for Dirk's Clan-member here. These charms are all protections and wards…. But Wood, Crystal and Bone aren't good mediums for a physical foci that won't have a solid body to attach to if that is what she is trying to do.'_

Keeping his physical eyes closed and looking as though he was asleep, Grimm used his links to Mintaka to look at the spells and ruined charms as well as her clean charms that hadn't been purposed. He agreed with Mintaka's idea in principal but even with all of their experience it was going to take a few tries to get this right.

Then, giving up the pretense of lounging beside the deeply sleeping ducks on the sofa and crossing the room he offered. '_I'll keep the salamander contained if you want me to Chosen.' _

Sending a tendril of thought towards the tiny orange and red lizard-like salamander that was curled in the pouch full of stones that Mintaka had just sat on the workbench; Grimm carefully arranged for the fire elemental to heat the clean slag and other left over waste glass that was in the sealed kiln now resting on the floor. Grimm was careful to praise and flatter the tiny creature since it was agreeably staying within the wards that kept his heat from burning through the floor or setting fire to the house or the other living beings in the room and the salamander's contented croon dropped to an almost inaudible hum as the glass became liquefied.

Mintaka was delighted that Grimm agreed with him about the approach to take with this fairly unknown clan, but he wanted to understand what Granny had been trying to achieve with her charms so he made sure to ask respectfully, "Pardon, but what end result are you trying to get with your charms? There seems to be at least six different aspects here…and."

Granny sighed and admitted with an uncomfortable glance at the couch and a furtive gesture towards the sloshing form of the water dog in the Quackerware bowl saying. "I didn't want to get involved with them…but I DID provide what protections I could for the ones that hadn't been taken over by the dark one."

She winced a little as Liquidator sloshed a bit more energetically and the bowl actually shifted before coming to rest against Mintaka's hand. Mintaka was careful not to react, but he could feel the desperate hope and pain in the person trapped in the bowl and he briefly wondered why Dirk's Clan had returned here and even more importantly why Granny had imprisoned this particular one in the container.

Hearing Granny's side of the story was shedding some light on the issues here, and more than likely that more ordinary seeming one Quackerjack and the interesting plant/duck Bushroot would be drawn here eventually if what he suspected was true. But unless Granny or one of the other principal players in the drama here asked for more; it was likely that this was going to be their best chance to show Granny about Kindred and offer her some connections to the Realm and its people.

He knew they needed more information and resolutely Mintaka kept his attention on Granny Babalawo as she continued, "I HAD hoped that that would be enough, but the charms I gave the duck over there have bound my power to him somehow."

Mintaka nodded reassuringly and waited as she visibly gathered herself and continued gesturing to the liquefied dog-like fellow in the plastic bowl, "Even though we Beagles tend to our own and try to stay out of the way of the kinds of trouble his clan regularly courts…he want's the chance to regain his life….The one he had before he was changed; and the duck over there actually came to this area looking for the rats that are outside my wards so I thought that if I helped him it would balance the karmic imbalance that I created by trying to leave the Dark Adept for others to deal with."

Mintaka was careful to keep his expression neutral and nonjudgmental and Grimm purred and arched his back in a friendly way to show that they understood her dilemma.

Encouraged by their acceptance of her actions Granny continued to explain her idea saying, "Since water can go from a gas, to a liquid to a solid… I thought that I could somehow change him back to flesh and blood. The mortal body is almost all water after all…and."

She paused at the look of admiration and a little fear she saw on Mintaka's face and he caught a hold of himself to say, "You were willing to channel that sort of power without any support? Physical transmutation is extremely tricky, although it will be easier for you than it would be for me to shift him since you and he are both of canis decent. How were you planning on safeguarding yourself and your loved ones to keep from being burned out or crippling them?"

Granny Babalawo flushed and said quietly, "I hadn't gotten that far, that's what the charms were for and he became impatient when one of my Grandson's came with warning that those ducks were approaching…and that there are several more of his Clan hiding outside the boundaries of my wards. Evidently he didn't want the rest of his clan to know about this and he upset the casting. I put him into that bowl just to keep him from disrupting things and once those others arrived I knew it wouldn't be prudent to do anything until they either healed or died."

At this Mintaka nodded and offered, "Well then, I suggest we work together to see what can be done to help him with his quest to find a balanced life while the two on your sofa recover a bit more."

He glanced out the window at the flash if Power he felt, but the tiny starling that had been avidly watching had ducked away and flitted off to check on the wards and bindings. She knew that soon the Beagle clan would be open to bonding with Kindred again and she intended to be ready, but…according to Grimm; the two rats sleeping off to the West were going to interrupt soon and it was better to be safe than sorry with the kinds of enchantments the mage-born were preparing to attempt….

Dirk woke up to find that strange, tall duck-like male that had been hanging out around Drake since the end of May was sitting beside him on the sofa drinking tea. Now ordinarily Dirk didn't care what those hokey relations of Morgana's were up to, as long as they stayed far away from him he was happy. After all it was one thing to mess around with Morgana, back before May she had been fair game until Drake had finally made his claims official. And she HAD dabbled in crime which had made her even more appealing; but it was another thing entirely to have her powerful relations mucking around in his life.

Dirk still hadn't made his piece entirely with what they had done to him and Drake once that crazy rooster had made his moves; but his first thought even before opening his eyes had actually been '_Whoa! I wonder why I smell burnt feathers_. Megs must have hit me with one of his power surges again, the knob!'

After Dirk had opened his eyes though the sight that greeted him was almost enough to keep his mouth shut…almost. Before he could stop himself a slight chuckle escaped his bill at the sight of the powerful, and although he would never admit it; intimidating mage sporting an array of scorched feathers and dusting himself fussily with a hanky trying to remove the bits of ash and dust from his waistcoat and avoid getting any of the fragments from his ministrations in his teacup.

There were several lamps on in the parlor and the window outside showed that the moon was up so Dirk knew that he had been unconscious for several hours at least…. He shifted slightly and was a little reassured and apprehensive to feel Anna's arms still wrapped around him and he waited for the mage's reaction.

Dirk's stomach lurched as fear and pain surged to the front of his mind from the peaceful slumber he had been enjoying and for a heart-stopping second he thought that Mintaka…that was his name, had taken offence at his laughter and hurt him somehow. HOWEVER, even though Dirk was smart enough to fear what Mintaka and others like him could do to him, all the powerful mage did was set his teacup down on thin air beside him and raise an eye ridge at the gasp of pain that immediately followed the laugh from the mallard on the sofa.

Getting up from his seat, Mintaka reached into one of the pockets of his waistcoat and pulled out a tin of small cookies whose thickly iced surfaces shifted and changed colors as Mintaka opened the box and pulled one out. Ignoring Dirk's rather understandable apprehension Mintaka waited until the mallard had taken a slightly deeper breath in preparation for saying something and popped the cookie into his mouth which promptly sealed his beak shut and then sat back down beside the masked mallard.

Grimm moved from his place beside the workbench and settled himself back beside his mage to watch the show as Dirk Mallard was reduced to mumbled outrage since the cookie was keeping him from saying anything intelligible; but what interested both the familiar and his chosen was the fact that the female duck that until now had been a still presence wrapped slightly around Dirk's body unless they had partially roused her to accept some water or broth began to shift and stir even though she was still far too hurt to truly force her way to consciousness on her own.

Dirk would have tried to spit out the cookie but he quickly discovered that wasn't an option as the thick frosting melted and flowed down his throat without any help from him. The cookie itself continued to keep his teeth welded shut until after the frosting disappeared and the stern look on Mintaka's face, combined with his own sense of caution to make him chew the cookie down instead of trying to spit it out. Grimm's warning look and the fact that doing anything but lying there nearly made him pass out combined to keep Dirk on the sofa. And this gave him time to think instead of react and that meant he had time to really taste the confection in his mouth and the shock of that held him silent as he struggled with it.

Dirk was surprised to realize that the frosted cookie tasted like the birthday cake he and Drake had shared for their eighth birthday. Stubbornly he blinked back tears at the memories of their last birthday as children since they had been forcibly separated soon after that. What was even harder for Dirk to keep to himself was that according to Drake's memories, his childhood had ended then too.

Their parents had been murdered soon after moving to St. Canard from Duckburg to follow leads to find their missing son since the Duckburg police force had told them that the case was cold after a couple of months with no real leads. Dirk HAD briefly seen the memories Drake had suppressed after that, and he used his own innate strength to force them away again, he didn't want to throw up on the mage and make him even angrier after all.

Glaring at the Avian waiting patiently beside him with as much bravado as he could muster, Dirk glanced at the 200 pound familiar reclining beside him and decided it would be smartest to let the mage speak his piece before saying anything. Struck by a sudden gut wrenching thought, Dirk's mind came up with a plan, information was power after all and he needed some kind of angle to get what he needed and since Mintaka hadn't actually fired off any lightning at him…maybe he still had a chance to turn this situation around.

Dirk ran an anxious hand over Muscovy's platinum blonde, short hair and felt his heart beat faster as her arms tightened around his waist. In spite of himself, he glanced down and saw that although her leather jacket and under clothes were as ragged and torn as his; her feathers were clean and she was breathing easily and sleeping deeply and like him her mask was still securely in place.

Seeing her clean feathers made him touch her again, relived that she seemed to be so much better than he remembered before focusing his attention entirely on the mage. He had noticed that he too was clean of any blood and even though he could feel that he wasn't 100% he knew that he was hurting far less than he should have been; but without knowing exactly what was going on there wasn't much he could do. He surreptitiously felt for his weapons and tools and found that he was actually low on supplies. Other than a couple of smoke pellets and his blackjack most everything else was gone.

Then his swift touch encountered the camouflage cloth that he had stolen from Professor Von Drake. Feeling better about his situation since he still had a few tricks up his sleeves and suddenly feeling a lot less like passing back out from lack of energy, Dirk watched and waited as his confidence returned.

The doubled twists of Spell Chain that pulsed and throbbed around each of the duck's throats were almost painful for the master-craft mage to look at. Clearly the Chains were now fully active and like the Mallard's and Morgana; Dirk and his female were going to have to up their calorie intake and nutrients to compensate for that…. The metabolic adjustment wasn't going to be on the same order as little Honker's since he had bonded to Fenrick.

But Mintaka didn't need Grimm's feelings on the matter to know that this was going to have to be addressed as well as the other care these two would need to regain their health. But what surprised him most was how the two ducks were reacting to each other already, although given how fully and swiftly Drake had bonded to Morgana he should have expected the same sort of thing from his twin, even though he had chosen a Normal-born female and not a mage or Monster-kind female as his mate.

Mintaka also noticed when Dirk's confidence returned and carefully hid a smile. Drake was the same way…beset with doubts and then suddenly leading despite his fear. Once they got young Honker settled it was going to be interesting to observe young Drake now that he wasn't being attacked by arcane means. With his health and conditioning almost replenished, the only thing holding Drake back now was his emotional confusion, and that wasn't necessarily a bad thing since the official bonding wasn't supposed to be until eleventh month.

Nevertheless, Mintaka admitted to himself and Grimm that he was glad Morgana had chosen to bond to Drake and not this twin since Drake was far more giving and a lot less inclined to losing control of his emotions unless his loved ones were hurt. Struck by that thought, Mintaka decided to give Dirk some information to help him understand what he was really involved in and see what he did with it.

Calmly he held up his own wrist and made certain that Dirk saw the Spell chain there. The masked duck's eyes widened slightly and the anger in them at being thwarted in his attempts to speak faded as Dirk realized what the mage was showing him. Chewing at the cookie he waited to see what would happen next since doing anything more physical wasn't likely to succeed.

Mintaka offered, "We are alone here for the next few minutes so I think now would be a good time to discuss a few things youngster."

Ordinarily Dirk had to admit that being called a youngster wouldn't have gotten anything positive from him no matter who tried that sort of familiarity, but…. For some reason his instincts; which usually screamed at him to push people away and to hurt them before they could hurt him, were silent. An unfamiliar sensation flooded him as he finally managed to swallow the confection and clear his mouth. His pain ebbed as the cookie continued its downward journey and his fear faded as he took in the expression on Mintaka's face and realized that the other bird respected him on at least some level.

Instead of forcing him to eat another cookie by putting it in his beak, the older Avian offered him a second one from the tin saying, "Here, you need the energy from good solid food and drink to help your body support the healing, but these cookies will do for now. Granny has been most gracious and is in another part of the house getting some food ready for you and I need to explain a few things to you before she returns."

Calmly the Mage held up a hand and ran his fingers along the tears and rips in the biker leathers that Dirk realized he was still wearing. You and the female are going to recover fully from your injuries Dirk. The Spell Chain's you wear kept you from bleeding to death and kept the damage from sending you into shock until you could get to help. The Chain contains Wards, Shields, Healing energy and other spells to protect and guard you and your body is going to have to provide the energy those spells need as is hers. But, for everything there IS a price to pay."

A lot more cautious around this twin, and with good reason as he felt the barely contained anger within this Mallard flare up again, Grimm growled warningly as his chosen continued, "I realize she is your mate and that you need to formalize your bond in the Normal realm…but the Chain's splitting off and bonding to her is enough for the Mage-born and Monster kind. You don't have to fear dishonor or challenge from us about her."

Mintaka gestured gently to Muscovy and reluctant for Mintaka to keep referring to her as just 'the female' Dirk interrupted to say, "Her name is ANNA or Muscovy when we are working and she's not my Mate…."

He flushed at Mintaka's knowing glance and admitted both to himself and the mage, "I want her to be and I want to give her a token that shows what she means to me and that we are together…one that the police and others can't take away or see unless they need to see it for US."

The light in the room caught on the mage's bracelet and suddenly Dirk realized that somehow the mage knew of his desperation and panicked desire to save Anna…. And of his whispered declaration and her answer as they had made their desperate way to the Beagle's homestead.

Before he could admit to his embarrassment, Dirk decided to take some initiative and asked, "What do I have to do to make a deal with you?"

Mintaka started to react with surprise but Grimm interrupted him and said sounding impressed and startled, _'Let him have control of the conversation for a bit Chosen, we need to address his concerns and his main ones now _are that no one is able to use his loved ones against each other….'

Mintaka agreed, _'He and Drake are far more alike than I'd hoped.'_

Speaking out loud Mintaka inclined his head gravely and asked, "I suppose that all depends on what you want to bargain for and why."

Handing the mallard another cookie and then taking one himself he settled in to hear exactly what safeguards Dirk wanted and why and after Granny Babalawo brought in some stewed meat and vegetables Mintaka carefully sprinkled some restorative powder into the bowl and offered, "I need to know I can trust you just as you are going to have to trust me. Finish this stew while Grimm and I work out how long we will need to make the adjustments you need to your Chain and hers."

Fixing the stubborn mallard with a fierce glare backed by Grimm's growl Mintaka added, "I am going to portal you and your lady home so you can take proper care of her AND yourself…. And don't worry about your companions, those two rats are already in St. Canard and they won't awaken for at least another day. You have been unconscious for almost three nights and two days Dirk and you need time. I also thought to tell the rats that you wanted them to stay out of trouble. Elmo said that to…lay low is the term I was supposed to use and I extracted a promise from both of them that should give you time to heal up before you have to concern yourself with their direct welfare again."

Anna stirred and moaned; she wasn't recovering nearly as fast as Dirk would have preferred and her pain stabbed at his heart and took the fight out of him. Agreeing to the mage's deal he soon found himself in his bedroom in the penthouse of Canard Tower reading a sheaf of papers that were quite specific about taking care of him and Anna. Caressing her hair again, Dirk resolutely signed both copies after making sure they were identical and they disappeared in a puff of smoke. One copy promptly reappeared having been countersigned by Lord Mintaka Spellbinder Macabre and then disappeared again. Resolutely ignoring these theatrics Dirk reached for the juice that had appeared on the nightstand and coaxed Anna into sitting up enough to drink it before drinking his own glass and settling in for another nap. According to what he had read, he should be able to get back to work on at least some level in a couple of days and IF Megavolt or any of the others got into any trouble they were just going to have to deal with it until then.

Gina Gaia was more than a little put off at the mess that greeted her at every turn as she looked around the lighthouse. Clearly Megsy wasn't one to pick up after himself much. She had to admit though living on the waterfront DID have some unexpected advantages; the press of the city's population on the earth wasn't nearly as bad here as it was on the landward sides of the city. She shivered delightedly as her connection to the earth told her that this particular spire of rock that the lighthouse was built on had deep solid roots.

Sighing as she moved yet another box of parts and electronic junk out of the way she surveyed the tiny closet and decided that the best thing to do was to wait for Elmo to wake up again and convince him to allow her to sort this stuff and then they could make some room. She knew that he needed her and something in her refused to leave him…this being the case, she needed a portion of this place to call her own and clearing out some of the stuff in this room was going to have to be the first step. It wasn't that she didn't want to sleep with Elmo, but the old couch he used as a bed was narrow and the springs in the frame were sharp.

Once he got used to the idea of sleeping on a nice flat mattress, surly Elmo wouldn't mind her making room for a twin bed and he was already acting a lot more coherent now that they were eating and drinking regularly again. Her slender build belayed her strength and agility and thanks to that strange avian back near Duckburg Gina was fairly bursting with strength and energy.

Unable to sit still, even though she had intended to wait for Megs to finish dressing, she opened the closet door and laughed at the sight of boxes of light bulbs and racks of toasters that lined the space from top to bottom. Poor Elmo, evidently he hadn't been nearly as delusional as she had thought as he had tried to explain about his enslaved children and how he rescued them….

This wasn't that big a deal at the moment, but once he got himself a little more together mentally; Gina decided that she was going to buy him several new outfits and herself as well. It was all well and good to wear that insulated rubberized jumpsuit to avoid shorting himself out so much, but it wasn't made for comfortable snuggling and she wasn't spending anymore time in this nasty F.O.W.L. issued white jumpsuit than she had to; thank you very much!

Megs had said that he had some ordinary money stashed in the closet, and since they had promised the mage-born to stay out of sight of the authorities for at least the next couple of weeks, they were going to have to buy what they needed with money. Gina sighed as she caught a glimpse of herself in the polished surface of the large circular magnet disk hanging above her like a chandelier.

Her narrow, flexible snout and black, shoe button nose were the same as always but what made her pause was the unfamiliar look of her eyes. The swelling had gone down completely and there was no sign of her physical difficulties from earlier; but she wasn't used to the bright-eyed and energized look on her own face. The unfamiliar smile was a bit creepy too…turning from her reflection Gina started to close the closet door when to her surprise Elmo wrapped his good arm around her from behind and nuzzled her neck tentatively.

He offered, "Did you find the toasters? They don't mind if we take their cords you know, those are the tethers that bind them to enslavement and we can trade them for anything you need at a store tonight."

Gina smiled affectionately and then stomped on his foot, not hard enough to truly hurt him but hard enough to get his attention. "Yow!" he cried as he hopped awkwardly on one foot and struggled to understand why she had hurt him and she turned to face him demanding, "You said there was MONEY in the closet! We PROMISED a MAGE that we would stay out of trouble for at least the next few days! Stores don't take electrical cords Megavolt! And I am NOT going to be happy if I have to spend any more time in this rag."

She felt bad about his pain as he sniffed and rubbed his foot but clearly the pain had awakened some of his inherent intelligence since he spoke to her in a far calmer and less whiney voice as he moved past her to open the door. "Keep your shirt on baby; I DO have some cash stashed in here. And I still say we should wait until tonight to go out. Once the stores go dark we can shop all you want with no one else around."

He calmly pulled on the shelf of toasters and the entire thing sung out to reveal a small floor safe which he opened with a jolt of electricity from his finger. Pulling out a wad of bills he asked uncertainly, "You aren't really mad about this are you?"

his cast she smiled and took part of the money as she said reassuringly, "No, not really; we just can't afford to break a promise to a full Mage-born Elmo."

She shivered a little as her own sense of touching unseen energies responded to her fear and the strength of the bay floor flowed into her as it continued to resist the forces of wind, water and gravity that pressed on it. Trust me on this baby, no one want's that kind of trouble."

Uncertain but happy that she was apparently calm now Megavolt offered, "I'm a wanted criminal you know, no one wants to see me in…their…." He paused as she held up an old set of almost forgotten civilian clothes. "store"

Gina had threaded a hand through the sling holding his arm steady and pulling the strap gently and kissing his adorable nose she cooed, "They are all afraid of you Megavolt but they will be glad to accept Elmo's money, come on now and we'll go get the mattress first so we can try it out later."

Both rats giggled at that and soon the bright yellow, very round, electric powered car that Megavolt had converted from it's rear mounted, gas powered engine disappeared with them headed for one of the outlying malls to get what Gina had decided they needed to make the lighthouse something a little more habitable as well as a few more groceries and some clothes.

_Okay, just to let people know…Megavolt's converted car is a bright yellow Volkswagen bug and I know the old ones had rear mounted engines but I don't know about the new ones. Also in the next chapter you all get to see what happened to the bear Shunt and hear from Taurus and Negaduck for a bit._


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: All of Disney's characters, concepts and intellectual properties belong to them not to me. I am writing out their adventures for fun and feedback only, not monetary gains so please feed my need to know that someone besides me still reads the stuff I write. _

Where there had been tumultuous and fairly destructive upheaval there was now only the sound of the wind moving timidly through pine needles; and cautiously shuffling broken twigs and loose leaves across what had once been a tiny pocket of a valley hidden in the rocky foothills of the coast north of the tri-state area. The trickle of water over stone punctuated the quiet as a bold songbird began to sing his claim over one of the small scrub bushes that happened to still be planted in the soil, but he paused in his serenade as a scraping noise sounded through the forest.

The thrush flitted cautiously towards the sound and then scattered in a panic as a substantial slab of rock shifted from its new place in the topsoil to reveal a large hand and arm pushing upwards against the forces of gravity. Any other possible witnesses to the emergence of this mystery creature would surely have left at the massive groaning and snarling that accompanied the second hand that worked it's way out from under the slab of rock. Then there was a final surge of effort and the tattered, matted, fur covered, torso of the bear-like sentient that had been fighting with Negaduck and Muscovy crawled the rest of the way out from under the rocky tomb that had held him imprisoned.

He panted harshly as the tubes and wires that marred his massively overdeveloped and deformed physique shown through the tears and rips in his jumpsuit. His sensitive hearing picked up the distinctive sound of some kind of machinery and he turned trying to pinpoint the sound.

The lens of his cybernetic eye whirled and spun as his automatic defense system kicked in and he blinked to clear his vision as his brain adjusted to the tracking iris. He strained his neck to look upward despite the tubes that restricted the movement of his neck to see something that made his breath catch and his heart pound in a way he hadn't thought possible since he had been declared a finished project and assigned to different F.O.W.L. installations over the last decade or so.

The bear wasn't stupid, although he had figured early on in his transformation from ordinary F.O.W.L. grunt to specialized weapon; that the changes his body had been forced to undergo had made his mind different, he actually observed and understood a great deal more than his keepers had thought. He also knew that F.O.W.L. hadn't expected him to survive as long as he had…as far as he knew he was the only one of the test subjects from project gladius to have survived. He also knew that he was far more comfortable following orders than in trying to make his own way now, what with the special needs he had because of his modifications. That was one of the main reasons he had remained with F.O.W.L. and had never seized any of the various chances he had had to escape them and their diabolical schemes that never seemed to have a real end.

In reality he would have been better off to have given up and died rather than surviving to be only a slave, but the strength and determination that had helped him endure the agony of the experiments also kept him alive hoping for a chance for revenge if nothing else. Ignoring the familiar surge of fury that made his heart pound at that thought, his ears swiveled to orient on the sound that had first alerted him to the fact that he wasn't alone in the clearing and for the first time in about a decade he felt something like kinship stir in his heart at the sight that greeted him.

The strange jet like form of Taurus Bulba descended from his position where he had been surveying the aftermath of the destruction of this F.O.W.L. base. As the large bull-like male landed his weapons reconfigured themselves and a large and menacing multi-cannon appeared on the end of his arm to point directly at the bear who blinked but didn't otherwise react to this unusual audience.

Taurus snorted and said, "bravo…I'm sure your efforts are an indication of further usefulness to my agenda…. And I have researched your situation and like me you were graciously offered the chance for your…enhancements without having to deal with the petty aggravation of having been asked or consulted by those shortsighted fools at F.O.W.L….Therefore I have a proposition for you."

At this the bear growled, a deep sound that promised mayhem as he drew himself more upright and ignored his various injuries. His eye glittered but then he recognized the similar look in the bull's expression and paused as Taurus continued saying in a deep, suave manner, "I would like to offer you a unique opportunity to rebuild the world to my superior vision. And of course enact vengeance on those fools that failed to understand just what they were creating when they did this to us."

At the end of this speech Taurus waited and to his secret delight the bear stepped forward, unafraid of the weapon pointed at him to say, "You may call me Shunt, my former existence doesn't matter to me now. And as long as you include the destruction of F.O.W.L. in what you do, and give me the chance to slaughter those weak and worthless beings that infest the planet like that cursed canine lab rat that thought this up, " He gestured to himself vaguely and then finished with an even more savage tone in his voice, "or the wretched Avians, I will be yours to command…."

Nodding, Taurus' cybernetic eye twirled to zoom in on the bear's various injuries, which didn't seem to be slowing him down any and also took in the state of his jumpsuit. The crime boss's intelligence noted just how much hatred the bear harbored for those he considered lesser sorts and decided that the bear was still worth recruiting despite this. Taurus understood the importance of taking advantage of those kinds of personal vendettas after all, and as long as Darkwing's death remained HIS to determine it hardly mattered how many other deaths the bear claimed; as long as he was controlable.

Ignoring the temptation to give in to his own spike of fury at the mere thought of that caped and masked clown Taurus offered, "We need to get you some proper camouflage, equipment and resources to make it easier for you to get around and use your talents to further our cause. I have a group of minions well entrenched south of here who will be ready for you by the time you arrive at the exit from the coast road. There will be a truck waiting by nightfall to take you into the city proper and avoid the petty annoyance of the law or other entanglements."

It was a good five miles or so to the exit that he had mentioned and this was a not so subtle test of just what physical feats the bear was capable of. If he arrived at the designated meeting place before nightfall even though he was injured then he was useful. If not then he would become someone else's problem and a welcome distraction to keep people from interfering in his operation anyway.

Blasting off in his jet mode Taurus was careful not to show just how difficult it was to switch between his different forms and weapons now and headed back to St. Canard to send some of Clovis' recruits to pick up the bear IF he arrived. The last thing he needed at this stage was to show weakness to his underlings and until he got the engineers and parts he needed to fix his technical problems he was far more vulnerable than he wanted anyone to guess.

Elmo Sputterspark was an uncomfortable weight in Megavolt's heart as he followed Gina around the small shopping mall she had decided might do for their clothing needs. Mercifully she seemed to know right where she was going and what she was looking for and other than touching him frequently to siphon off his excess charge and kissing his nose over her bags and boxes that he was loaded down with to keep him distracted from his occasional discomfort over having to be around the other shoppers; she didn't seem the type of female who required any conversation from her pack mule/ male companion. This was actually something of a two edged sword for the tall, skinny, male rat in a faded black and white plaid shirt and nondescript pale tan trousers as he squinted uneasily and followed her as docilely as he could.

On the one hand he was spared the effort of trying to remember a conversation as he kept up with her while carrying her packages but on the other this gave him far more time to be introspective than he was used to. Her attentions weren't just pleasant, as their interactions continued Megavolt had noticed that it was becoming much easier to think since the constant buzz of static-like interference that had been his constant companion since his transformation from Elmo Sputterspark high school science whiz to Megavolt super-powered super-villain had faded completely into a strange silence.

In that silence where the voices that Megavolt had always assigned to light bulbs and other electrically powered objects usually resided in his mind there was now a single thought pattern and it wasn't that of Megavolt at all. It was the scientifically minded teenager Elmo who watched everything with curiosity and more than a little fear as he followed along behind Gina. Elmo DID try and stay calm, Gina had noticed his nerves and he alternated between delight at being kissed by such an attractive young female as she and an uncertainty born of the fact that he couldn't remember the last time he had been out and doing something and having people go on about their business without all the running and screaming that usually happened when Megavolt was around.

His memories of the last few years weren't very clear at all really except for the flashes he kept remembering of himself doing things dressed in his jumpsuit and having used his electric powers to charge up something big like the hydro-electric turbines in Duckburg or one of Quackerjack's robots….Logically Elmo knew that he should be afraid or upset about all these memories that included committing crimes and being a criminal, and honestly the memories that surfaced about Negaduck did evoke more fear than the others; but…Elmo couldn't really work up a sense of wrongness over that.

As far as he could determine, it was the other members of the Fearsome Five that cared about him…. They took care of him, Liquidator always made him eat since he didn't pay much attention to his body when the voices were loud and they made sure he didn't get wet as much as they could too. Liquidator had as much to gain as he did in that way since they tended to hurt each other by accident when they collided. Quackerjack in particular appreciated his powers as Megavolt since he designed many of his inventions to be powered by electricity. And Bushroot was actually a good enough sort, even though they didn't have much in common…other than being super-powered outcasts and Elmo had to admit that he really enjoyed using his electrical abilities.

If he could just find a way to channel his powers to keep the voices from distracting him, Elmo knew he could finish his research into alternative energy and help save the planet as he'd intended when he had begun his experiments in high school. His parents might even acknowledge him as Elmo again And not just the criminal Megavolt if he could maintain control. Elmo jumped slightly as he came out of his introspective daze to find Gina smiling at him as she held several more shopping bags in front of his eyes.

She handed him the bags and brushed her hand along his before saying, "thanks for the crowd control offer Sweetie, but I think we should stay under cover for now. I am done here and I made sure to get you several more outfits, they will make good disguises even if you don't want to wear them a lot. We have enough to get some lunch out before we go back to the lighthouse and clean the kitchen so we can cook."

Clearly some of his thoughts had come out of his mouth without him since he'd missed that conversation, and the sway of her tantalizing hips and the curve of her backside made her tail bounce irresistibly which meant that he didn't have a lot of cognitive power to spare. Elmo obediently followed her to the counter of the Hamburger Hippo that was set up in the food court and waited at an empty table with their packages while she ordered.

Gina looked over the rim of her soda cup at her rescuer and was careful not to react as the calm and intellectual Elmo occasionally was replaced by the far more intense and emotional Megavolt and every time that happened she touched him to balance his energy to keep him quiet and focused. Lord Mintaka Spellbinder had been quite intimidating even though he had been kind and the drink he had given them both had been the main reason she and Elmo had been able to function independently once the powerful mage had used a travel portal to send them to the lighthouse that was the place that Elmo had claimed as his home.

Gina knew that her family had always been a bit strange, they had been considered a bit far out even by the nature lovers and hippies she had grown up around but meeting Lord Spellbinder had triggered feelings and emotions in herself that Gina had never expected to experience. The Mage-born had been very through in his brief interaction with them and he had given her a lot of advice during the conversation she had had with him before Elmo had awakened the second time that was actually proving to be both useful and instructional. Evidently the stories about her great grandma that she had thought were only bedtime stories had a lot more truth to them than she had supposed.

Sometime soon she was going to have to find out more from her parents; since according to Lord Spellbinder she and most likely her brothers were partially related to the mage-born but their parents were really back to nature sorts and didn't have any modern technology. And now that their children were old enough to be out of school, they tended to move from campground to campground and be out of touch for weeks at a time which was why none of her family had known she was in trouble when those F.O.W.L. people had kidnapped her.

It was going to be a while before either of her brothers thought to check in with her either, Sean and Gene weren't the technophobes that their parents were, but the last she had heard; Sean was in the Caribbean communing with a pod of Dolphins and Gene was mountain climbing in the Rockies.

Meanwhile though, it was the promise that Lord Spellbinder had extracted from both herself and Elmo that kept Gina on edge; not the balancing act she was performing with Elmo's energy and mental stability or the not completely stunning revelations about her family tree. Unlike Elmo, she knew what could happen to them if they broke a pact with a full Mage-born and even though they had only just met a few days ago she really, really liked him…. He was sweet and passionate about helping to save the planet and even his Megavolt side had a lot of appeal, and with her help to cancel out the excess charges that disrupted his thinking and triggered his mania's he was good company in other ways too.

Ignoring the way her blood felt too hot and her whiskers twitched at that thought, Gina nudged Elmo playfully and said, "Come on handsome, lets get home and see if the new mattress has been delivered. And I think I want to see you in one of these outfits I found for you too."

Elmo had a moments panic as he drew a blank and started to ask her where home was until an image of his lighthouse touched his memory and after carefully finishing his soda and tossing the cup in the nearby trashcan he grinned and agreed, "Sure, as long as you show me one of yours…."

Giggling both rats left to pursue each other unaware that they were being observed by one of the weasels that sold information to anyone with the right price. Unlike most of the low level snitches and narks he had ambition and he had seen these two leaving the lighthouse and followed them here. He figured that something was up but so far he hadn't figured out what since he hadn't dared to try and break into the lighthouse to snoop.

But his instincts refused to be quiet about this and he wanted more than anything to get an in with one of the networks that reported to Lady Velvet and this was looking promising indeed. Moving along after his quarry he tried to keep calm but as he followed the bright yellow car that the couple had loaded with their purchases he couldn't resist humming his favorite TV theme song, 'mission impossible' as he went. He was a cautious as possible and at the sight of a mattress delivery truck unloading he grinned and settled in for a long wait as the rats disappeared inside with their purchases.

Dirk Mallard was much happier now that Anna was so much better, she was still far too lethargic for his peace of mind but, she was starting to chaff at the restrictions he had put her under once they came home from Duckburg. And even though he didn't like her resisting him, Dirk had to admit that he preferred her showing her mind and spirit to being too scared or sick to object so he controlled his temper and finished making the eggs, toast, fruit and oatmeal that they were having for breakfast before she came out of the bedroom. Anna came out just then, wrapped in a short robe that did wonderful things to his libido and at the sight of the table set for two and loaded with food she stopped and took a breath probably to continue their argument from earlier.

Ignoring this Dirk fixed her with a look and said in a firm no nonsense voice that carried shades of Negaduck at his most stubborn, "I know you want to get your stuff from your old digs baby and I understand that. But you are not going out alone and that's final."

Moving towards her he wrapped her in his arms and preened her slender neck just under her Spell Chain as he whispered, "I can't take the chance that someone will hurt you."

She trembled slightly as her knees went weak for another reason entirely and said, "alright, you win…but I'm no push over even if you are dashing and dangerously handsome."

Dirk relaxed at that and settled her in her chair before sitting down himself. The mage Mintaka had agreed that he would send the addition to her necklace once it was finished and until she was fully protected neither Dirk nor Negaduck was going to take unnecessary risks with her. After they got back, he was going to have to find something to occupy her while he went bar crawling and checked his contacts in some of the weasel gangs. As much as Anna hated it, Muscovy was going to have to remain sidelined for a while longer…. He happened to look across the room at that and notice his top of the line media center sitting in all it's electronic glory and remembering an earlier comment she had made he hatched a plan that just might do the trick….

Stretching and yawning Negaduck swung a leg over the seat of The Troublemaker and settled his costume jacket more securely over his red turtleneck as he started the powerful engine. Anna had been much easier to deal with than he had thought once she had retrieved her stuff and he had taken her shopping for her own computer and a copy of Worlds of Wonder the online game she had confessed to liking. After extracting a promise from him to play the game soon so they could do something called dungeon crawling for prizes she had settled down in the penthouse without much temper and it was time for Negaduck to get busy.

Ignoring the twinge from his tired torso muscles and zooming out of his private garage space he glanced at the partially finished motorcycle he was building for her and grinned at the thought of her reaction to the gift. She claimed that she would rather cling to him than ride her own bike, but as much as he preferred that too their were times when she was too distracting and he needed to know that she had her own means of getting away from trouble in case the shakeups in the underground turned deadly.

With his beak set in a grim line, Negaduck roared away to begin his next round of rumor chasing, he wasn't going to get anywhere by sitting around on his tail feathers…and with Darkwing busy in Duckburg at least half of his worries were safely out of the immediate picture so now was a good time to make some headway…. Especially since, for now at least; it seemed that the minor criminals in town were all eager to spill anything they could in the way of information in order to buy some protection for themselves from the coming turf war.

It was time to start filling Steelbeak in too, old Gentleman Joe would appreciate that and besides; it was high time someone started to agitate S.H.U.S.H. again to keep them alert to the local situation and Steelbeak was just the rooster for the job; if he could be goaded into it. Negaduck reflected sourly that it was one thing to terrorize the city himself, but it was another thing entirely to have to put up with power outages and other inconveniences when someone else disrupted the city services. Grimacing he made a mental note to make a major grocery run tomorrow when he woke up just in case something broke loose sooner than he thought it would and continued on towards the Tales of the Golden Idol bar to chat with Finn.

_Just to let people know, World of Wonder is actually a parody of World of Warcraft the online game and I don't own anything about that either except for my own retail copy. Also I am figuring on touching on Megavolt's being a bit less bemused and distracted by a bouncy tail and sweet kisses in the next chapter but I figured that this would fit them having just met and being infatuated and all. _

_Please DO let me know if this is too OOC or anything and I hope that this is working well and that everyone enjoys reading this…In the next chapter I am going to try and fulfill a request from horsechick 27 that I hope others will also enjoy so please read and review thanks, your friend Irual_


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters created by Disney nor do I make any money from this hobby so I figure it all evens out because I am getting these stories out of my head and sharing them at last. Please enjoy this next chapter and review if you can. _

_There IS one bad swear type word in this chapter and I spelled it with an * strategically placed to bleep it out and a not quite so bad one too. But it IS Negaduck who thinks it and I figure that as a villainous type he does that but that should be the only really "BAD" thing in this chapter. There is violence, and a little bit of implied adult naughtiness between both Elmo and His Girl and Negs and Anna but nothing graphic and this fic IS rated T for that kind of thing so I hope you all enjoy this. _

_The last part of this chapter is dedicated to Horsechick 27 and the scene with Dirk and Anna and Negaduck and Muscovy was a request from her. Feel free to suggest things you would like to see happen and if I can work them in I will be happy to accommodate anything I can in the way of ideas, your friend Irual._

Gina Gaia had never been happier in her life than she was at this moment, she and Elmo were cuddled together in the lighthouse and she was dressed in one of her new dark green, cotton, natural weave, wrap styled outfits that had been designed for rodent-like sentients; which meant that her sensitive tail was finally freed from the constraints that had been so irritating when those horrible F.O.W.L. people has stuffed her into that hideous jumpsuit that hadn't even had a slit cut into the back for her tail! That disgusting, polyester jumpsuit had joined Megavolt's ruined yellow one from earlier in his pile of garbage to be picked up and taken to the recycling center in the dumpster beside the nearest pier.

Together they had sorted through enough of the bits and pieces of Megavolt's experimental machinery to make room for their bedding and then they had fallen asleep. But now she was rested, well fed and the scent of the slender rat beside her was evoking all sorts of naughty thoughts that she couldn't wait to try; with this in mind she kissed Elmo's nose and waited to see his reaction to her attentions.

They had been together for nearly a month and she had noticed that he tended to be overly focused and neglect himself when he got one of his ideas in his head which meant it was up to her to make sure he ate and slept when he went off on one of his tangents. That was how they had ended up here at the top level of the lighthouse last night on the bedding without the frame of the bed to interfere with their games.

Elmo had proven to be quite an eager participant in their playtime and he had swiftly learned some delightful tricks that she was all too happy to enjoy anytime he could be coaxed into a session. Shifting herself slightly she raised her head and glanced out one of the slit windows that let light into the room and saw that there was bright daylight outside.

They were in the upper living space just under the large lighted lens that automatically sent its signal at night to light the way past the jetties in the bay and she knew that he had been exhausted from trying to finish his project downstairs so she didn't want to push him too hard. Elmo wasn't like other rats she had known, in more than just his inventiveness and intelligence either; he was the first one she had met outside of her family to have a sort of affinity for an element, and abilities similar to what they had which Gina had to admit was a major part of his appeal.

Aside from his generally adorable, disheveled and geeky look; his intellect and creativity called to that part of her inside that had always felt as though she needed something to fill up the empty space inside herself. Granted his affinity was with electricity and power in general, not the earth-mother but…his ability to channel and even summon energy was very impressive. Her mother and Grandmother were bound to like him it was just daddy who was likely to object; but then Daddy had yet to approve of any of her boyfriends….

Sean and Gene didn't particularly care about her 'affairs' as they termed her attempts to find a mate and being nearly five and seven years older than her respectively meant that they had left to pursue their own interests before she had even started her graduate classes. Being home schooled had meant that all of the siblings in her family had proceeded at their own paces through regular schooling and all three of them had graduated early.

She had even attended the state campus for over a year and a half before F.O.W.L. had kidnapped her but she had far more to interest her now than just those academic ideas. Besides Elmo was quite brilliant and when she had mentioned about wanting to take more classes he had been very accepting and excited for her. He had even introduced her to his laptop named Shirley and signed her up for an online test to determine what classes she needed to take to achieve her degree in Geological research.

Gina hid a smile and anticipated Elmo's reaction to the discovery of her achievements. She had already taken almost four semesters in the state certified AA degree program; and had amassed several years' worth of general credits before she had even moved away from her family as well. Elmo was going to be SO proud once her results came back and he realized that she was actually as intellectual as he was and that she was already into graduate classes.

Once they finished settling in here she was going to see if he would go with her to the state park and visit the smaller cave system to look at the rock formations so she could decide what to do for her research project. The spire of rock that this lighthouse was built into was certainly much more interesting that those caves, but…she had no way to prove what she felt to others and finding rock that was similar would be a good first step in backwards engineering the proofs she needed to show her theory to her professors.

Elmo awakened at her touch and kissed her back wrapping himself more firmly around her to whisper in her ear saying, "I have to admit, this bed and mattress was a really good plan. My luminaries and other helpers will just have to make room for the rest of our new ideas…like this one."

With that, his expressive tail slid around to touch hers in a most provocative way and Gina wondered yet again why her cuddly insisted on hiding his handsome tail in his jumpsuit most of the time especially when he was in his working persona of Megavolt before his attentions drove all coherent thought from her mind. After a few minutes the two of them were engaged in a vigorous game of nip and tickle that had them both giggling and shrieking before the gleam in Elmo's eyes turned distinctively lusty.

Outside, the weasel that had been following them continued to root through the dumpster he had discovered next to the modified yellow VW bug that the rats had unloaded earlier, and he had to admit he was a bit puzzled by the eclectic junk inside the trash bin as well as by the extras he had uncovered that had been built into the car. This particular dumpster was a commercial model and it was in a fairly rough neighborhood which meant that the things thrown into it were usually not your usual household trash…but this electronic junk was pretty industrial and most of it appeared to have been used for some sort of crazed building project before being abandoned.

There were the innards to several different small appliances and bits of glass, wire, packaging and to his surprise what appeared to be several jumpsuits and other torn and dirty clothes that looked to be fairly standard except that the yellow one seemed to be made of a rubberized material that wasn't something that he thought was usually used for clothing. Except maybe in manufacturing plants…and even then it was thicker than he had realized those kinds of protective outfits usually were and the wear marks on it indicated that whoever had thrown it away had worn this jumpsuit under some kind of harness….

He let the ruined jumpsuit fall back into the junk and pondered, that looked very familiar but he wasn't sure why and he knew that whatever was nagging at him was likely important. Climbing back out of the dumpster and shinnying down the old couch frame that he'd used as a ladder to get inside the metal trash box, the weasel shook the sent of dirt, and old metal out of his fur and looked up at the sound of the marine cranes beginning to fire up to unload cargo.

Frustrated that his snooping was turning up more questions than answers, the weasel decided after looking around and realizing that work crews and longshoremen were getting close and active since the morning shift had stared that it was time for him to go. He made sure to replace the car cover on the yellow bug and wipe away any traces of his snooping so that the rats wouldn't know he had disturbed it and made a note of the license plate. A quick check of the DMV records would tell him who this car was registered to and maybe that would give him a new direction to go in.

For now though it was best if he made himself scarce, his sensitive hearing picked up the unmistakable and very faint sounds of someone having a very good time coming from what he suspected was the top floor of the lighthouse and his whiskers twitched with amusement. About a year ago the Audubon Bay lighthouse had been declared a privately owned historic landmark as well as having been fully restored and automated. The now working lighthouse's beacon actually did shine every night to show the way into the bay and as far as he knew no one lived there but from the sounds of things those rats weren't planning on leaving anytime soon…maybe the owner would pay to know about these squatters.

Cheered at the thought of a paying gig the weasel darted away and the waterfronts teeming docks and warehouses continued to bustle as several cargo ship unloaded. Nearby work continued on both the suspension bridge and the new deep anchorages being constructed in the channels that had mysteriously developed from the same seismic activity that the news had said had caused the bridge to be shut down for repairs.

The sweltering heat of August was beating down on St. Canard as the entire city throbbed with the aftermath of the July 4th celebration that the mayor's office had sponsored to give the city a positive publicity boost and the huge charity fund raiser that had catapulted Darkwing Duck to celebrity status. Most of the city was still sweltering from the steady heat but the waterfront was noticeably cooler since there was an ocean breeze and the water from the bay itself to cool things off.

In the top of the lighthouse, the city's resident electrically powered super villain was watching his love interest as she finished her interior decorating. She had repainted the walls a warm ivory and there were large mural panels of mountains and desert landscapes instead of the pitted, scared, industrial grey, dingy paintjob that had been throughout his lair.

Gina had also insisted on their buying some newer furniture than the beat up junk he had scavenged from trash piles in his more coherent moments between rescuing his luminaries before he had met her. Megavolt had to admit that he had really enjoyed her changes to his disjointed bachelor styled life so far; like the double bed they now shared and the newer couch whose cushions were comfortable and covered with pillows that were plump with stuffing. He had also noticed all her furniture choices were covered in warm earth tones with accents of yellows and reds but honestly he didn't mind her making the rooms warmly welcoming and colorful.

She had been very understanding about his need to improve various machines and invent and they had turned the cellar area into his private space that she respected and only came into to drag him out of to take care of him not to throw anything away. This being so, he had even managed to reach a compromise with his laptop named Shirley and the other appliances and machines that he tended to energize.

They had agreed that Gina could stay and that they would obey her to make him happy, now all he had to do was show her how to activate the interfaces that he had arranged and she would be able to continue her online classes and make them the tasty meals he wanted to keep eating. His whiskers twitched proudly as he passed the place on the wall where she had hung his high school diploma and grinned, his other surprise was sure to make her squeal appealingly too.

He shifted slightly on his feet and went to wrap his arms around her to purr in her ear as his stomach gave a slight growl and said, "Gina, I have some really good news and I want to show you what I made for you…."

She smiled at the look on his face before Elmo began pulling her towards the lower level of the tower where he had spent the last three weeks remodeling the bathroom and kitchen areas. He smiled indulgently as he took in the new outfit she was wearing; it was one of her organically grown and all natural finds from that designer she had been so excited about.

She had little use for most of the city life simply because the large population tended to stress the earth and her; but she did enjoy some of the amenities available to them. Like watching cable shows on food, cooking and fashion as well as the history, biography, and geographical channels especially since his television was Megavolt powered and could show, record and playback simultaneous channels at a time whenever they wanted even though it was a standard set.

He hid a smile as she moved distastefully past a box of the leftover electrical cords he had removed from the kitchen crew. He had finally worked out how to keep them charged even when he wasn't around and he just knew that Gina was going to appreciate what he had done. The cords offended him because they were the chains that tethered the appliance slaves to their prisons while Gina considered all the extra bits to be clutter and a waste of resources unless they could be recycled.

Gina wasn't picky really, she just knew what she liked and insisted on things like natural materials and green, ecologically sound, engineering as much as possible. Honestly neither Elmo nor Megavolt could work up much temper over how she had rearranged their lives either. Almost all her purchases had been with an eye for his comfort and care as much as hers so Megs wasn't too worried about how much his stash of cash had dwindled. But he knew that he was going to have to replenish his stash soon. Until then though, he was hoping she would like his renovations.

He had been working on the kitchen on and off for days and he was really hoping that his new cooking ideas would meet with her approval since he had managed to avoid enslaving any of the heating appliances by using electric cords and he wanted to keep it that way. Although, at the memory of her last delicious attempt at feeding them from the charcoal grill in the top of the lighthouse, Elmo and Megavolt both had to admit that if Gina insisted on using electric powered tools and appliances to make more meals like that then the stoves and other kitchen tools were most likely going to have to learn to live with it.

Gina snuggled into his embrace and shifted slightly as the ever-present charge that continued to build up in her sweet, cuddles discharged into that spiritual part inside of her that was so attuned to the strength of the earth. Allowing him to escort her down the metal, spiral stairway that went from the top of the lighthouse and down through the two middle floors, she stepped daintily onto the bamboo mats at the base of the staircase; and then followed him down the stone steps into the area at ground level that he had been working in for the last couple of weeks.

They emerged into a stone tiled kitchen area that had a wood fired, brick bread oven and a large marble tabletop as well as a huge sink and the newest idea he had tried which involved a gas grill and rotisserie in a fairly vertical set up to save space. There was also a modern cold box and a rank of small appliances that were all sitting on his newest addition to their household arsenal. He had rigged a large counter for the appliances to sit on and then placed a solar powered generator and an induction charging station in the counter that kept all their electrically powered machines charged without plugging them in since he had converted all of them to some sort of solar/battery/direct current combinations and removed their cords.

At the sight of the refrigerator and its cord still securely plugged into the outlet Megavolt and Elmo frowned slightly. They had been debating on ways to avoid plugging in anything, but the generator and the cold box remained chained in place by their cords. Occasionally Megavolt unplugged them and used his own powers to fire them up which Gina had found fascinating and adorable since the small appliances had begun to act like house pets ever since she had helped him channel the energy from the lightning storm last week. But the last time he had energized them, about a week ago, the generator had wheeled itself out the door in a fit of jealousy and the fridge had spit all their ice cubes at the other appliances which had caused Gina to insist that they remain on their leashes until Megavolt and Elmo could train them better.

Delighted with his newest attempt to compromise between his need to invent non-polluting and non plugged in ways to do things and her own need to indulge in the domestic arts she loved; Gina cooed and spun to kiss him saying, "Oooo baby, I LOVE this new way to cook! I'll just whip us up a snack to celebrate while you recharge in your room."

Delighted at her response to his idea for a heated way to cook that didn't involve enslaving a stove, Elmo kissed her again before his Megavolt side kicked in and insisted on energizing the toaster. Giggling at his kiss which had caused all her fur to fluff with the static he released Gina as she tapped his nose gently to distract him from himself.

At the startled look in his eyes she said gently, "Leave the pets with me Megsy, I'll need their help to fix us something good and afterwards you can make sure they are all clean and the toaster and the microwave can play fetch while we look over the online information you wanted for the bank job next week."

At this Megavolt grinned, he did like playing house with Gina but Elmo had been in control for most of the last few weeks and he was fairly itching to really let loose with his powers. Besides, both sides of him understood the need for some cash to tide them over until Negaduck came out from under whatever rock he was using for a hideout this time and even though Gina didn't entirely approve of his criminal ways; she had just given him tact approval to actually be Megavolt for a bit and he wasn't going to waste this opportunity.

Giggling to himself, Megavolt dashed off to his room downstairs to ready his working costume and make sure his batteries were fully charged while he waited for the food to be finished. Usually he didn't care about eating in particular, especially not as Megavolt…but he was used to eating regularly again and eating tasty foods that made him feel good instead of whatever he scrounged from the alleys and trash bins while he was rescuing bits and pieces of his friends the luminaries and mechanicals. And as a result, he didn't like being hungry much anymore and this way he could make sure his surprise for Gina was ready without her knowing about it before hand.

Gina watched him go and nodded to herself, Lord Spellbinder was right, Elmo's mind was deeply divided, and however he had begun to channel power through himself; it hadn't been a natural or painless thing. She trembled as the toaster gulped bread slices to make toast and the mixer whirled as it ground the makings for her herbal pesto sauce to mix into the pasta. She was deeply attracted to him, in both his aspects and it wasn't likely that he could heal enough to stay Elmo entirely…this being so, it was up to her to make things work between herself and Megavolt. She knew this meant accepting that he needed to channel his power and also that his need for the excitement and danger inherent in being part of that duck's gang wasn't something that was going to change either. Ignoring her nerves at the thought of actually interacting with Negaduck again and adding the garlic butter to the toast, she moved gracefully towards the basement to call her cuddles to eat and squeaked in surprise as a fully costumed Megavolt minus only his heavy battery scooped her off her feet and twirled her around his work room.

His goggles and gloves were tucked into his belt but he seemed oblivious to this as he chattered excitedly and began to show her a little custom laptop that he introduced as Aeon. To Gina's surprise, the tiny machine responded to both herself and Megsy in a quiet feminine voice that sounded quite a bit like the computer on Star Trek and unlike that machine she didn't seem limited to mainly repeating what they said.

Instead she even started to anticipate commands and like the kitchen appliances; her behavior and personality had more in common with a sweet, Cocker Spaniel puppy than a clinically logical computer. Of course the fact that Megavolt and Elmo had somehow apparently made a quantum jump in computing technology was pretty impressive all on its own but what made her smile and nip him on the neck appreciatively was the fact that he had made Aeon for her so that she could take classes and do research without being easily traced. The tiny computer had proudly demonstrated her ability to shuffle in and out of data bases and had even pulled up the floor plans and security schematics for the branch of the First Third bank of St. Canard that Megavolt wanted to break into; saved copies and gotten back out in less than a flash of her backlit keyboard.

Knowing that this was vital to her Megsy and to her relationship with Elmo Gina gushed with delight and patted the laptop gently feeling Megavolt's unique energy coursing through the little machine. This reaction wasn't nearly as much of a stretch for her as it might have been since unlike ordinary machines that felt inert and dead to her for the most part even when they were functioning, machines that Elmo and Megavolt infused with his power felt as alive as the earth and treating them like pets or small children had become almost natural since moving in with him.

Gina smile to herself and picked up Aeon and suddenly felt as though she and Megs had adopted a new pet as the laptop used its stored catalog of sounds to produce a contented series of purrs. Megavolt and Gina kissed before they went out to the kitchen and introduced Aeon to the rest of the kitchen crew and had their pasta. Gina knew using his powers took a lot of physical effort for his body even though they were second nature to him now and Gina was determined that her sweet, thoughtful, cuddles was going to take care of himself….

Dropping the unconscious rat to the floor, Negaduck flipped up his cell phone and placed a call to one of the few fairly competent sawbones that could be trusted to show up for a private appointment and made certain that the doc would keep this guy breathing. After all it wasn't likely that anyone would even bat an eye over him if he disappeared, but a reliable fence wasn't someone you choked unconscious every day; not if you wanted to do business. And besides, the effort involved in covering his tracks would be better used in following a different set of rumors than it would be in making sure a body disappeared if he just let this loser die.

Negaduck was quite frustrated with his lack of progress over the possible location of Clovis Bovine and her crew. He had tracked down several fences and a couple of the usual arms dealers that supplied the less law abiding members of St. Canard's underworld with weapons and squeezed them pretty hard…. But unless they were all exceptional actors, or his instincts were off completely; Negaduck was sure that none of them had supplied Clovis or any of Taurus Bulba's other old crew with anything on his list….And so far at least, no one was admitting to having anything to do with that strange shipment of poison filled vials that had the S.H.U.S.H. agents panties in a twist either.

That worried him for several reasons; first it had been nearly three weeks since the last round of pickups and 'interviews' that S.H.U.S.H. had done while making one of what he had thought was one of their periodic sweeps of the underground. And so far no one had seen hide, hair or feathers from any of the suspects that had been caught in the net of raids; much less heard anything about what may or may not have been discovered. And second S.H.U.S.H. wasn't following their usual M.O. in regards to the local situation either.

The usual teams of agents and undercover teams were bumbling around with their heads up their rears even more than usual and instead of sending Dipwing out and about where he could be fed clues and made useful, the dippy do-gooder was nowhere to be found! Granted, Negaduck knew from the images in his pocket mirror that Drake was safe and sound but that didn't make him readily available and that was an irritation; not to mention that when Darkwing was around Negaduck learned a lot from the fallout from the hero's activities. Dirk's mind instinctively shied away from the images of the duckling, Honker he had seen the last time he had checked on Drake in the mirror.

Dirk shuddered and reflected unhappily, sure he was a hardened criminal and no one was going to make him do anything he didn't want to do…but he knew what it was like to be hurt and abused. The sight of the slightly built duckling crouched in the closet while Drake talked him down from his panic attack had struck an all to familiar chord in Dirk's heart and he hadn't dared to look in the mirror since. Ignoring his feelings, he made another mental note to see about making that Frank Muddlefoot suffer for a very long time before making sure he didn't survive to get out of prison, Dirk focused on thinking not reacting. For an instant his eyes held the same grim, merciless look that he had had learned to use as a shield in the Negaverse as he grew up there and became strong enough to begin shaping it to his will instead of letting the denizens of the place rule him as they had when he was small.

The Negaverse had done its level best to kill all his instincts to think, or care about others but unlike Drake, who had desperately blocked out his memories of his murdered parents and kidnapped brother in a fairly successful bid to save his sanity; Dirk had clung with that same strength to the memories of his parents and brother to help him stay as sane as he could during those nightmare years he had been trapped in the Negaverse.

And when Dirk had finally escaped from there after almost sixteen years and understood that his parents were dead and his own twin didn't know him at all; he had nearly given up and destroyed himself and as much of the tri-state area as he could. But…something about that first encounter with Drake as Darkwing had sparked the crazy idea that he could somehow turn things around especially since he had recognized the fact that Drake's love interest Morgana Macabre had the kind of skills and talent that could be used to find the enemy that had robbed them of their childhoods and separated them. Not that he would ever admit it of course, but…seeing Drake as Darkwing hadn't just sparked envy in him. It had ignited his hunger for acceptance from his brother the hero and the thirst to belong to this city; on his own terms of course.

This in turn had given him the courage to try and reconnect somehow with Drake and make a real life for himself here instead of courting death as he had been. But…even after everything that had happened Dirk had to admit that he hadn't expected to fall in love or taken that into account until after he had met Anna.

Shaking off his woolgathering and pushing his personal life and agenda to the back of his mind, Dirk moved swiftly to the street and glanced carefully around to ensure no one was snooping as he moved to the alley to get his bike. Growling to himself, Negaduck swung onto the Troublemaker and headed to the Old Haunt to meet up with Muscovy.

She was itching to help him and prove herself as a professional. And after that weird bar fight at the Tales of the Golden Idol bar, even occupying her with that video game wasn't going to be enough to keep her content now that she was physically recovered. The burden in his heart lightened a little at the thought of her and once again an unfamiliar smile lightened his beak although he swiftly squashed that expression so no one would see it and suspect anything.

He felt his mood lighten a little in spite of himself at the memory of her and how she had stood up to him after he had gotten home from his meeting with Gentleman Joe Capon a few days ago. A slight grimace replaced the smile he had been wearing as he flexed the strong muscles of his torso feeling them stretch over the places she had bruised when she had pummeled him for getting knifed in the bar fight in the wee hours of the morning as well. Not that he had bruises to show for her love taps though, those had healed with almost visible speed and by the time she had washed his feathers clean of blood there was no sign of the cuts and abrasions he had sustained either.

In fact, the only physical signs of the fight which had resulted in his having left two canids, a rodent and three avians being carted off by the bouncers had been a few broken feathers that Anna had imped in replacements for; but he knew what had happened and he suspected that Anna had felt the pain of his injuries through her necklace too. She had singled out those places on his body first and hadn't listened to him at all until she had satisfied herself about his condition. However, after she had finished panicking and then painstakingly inspected him practically feather by feather her ministrations had been sufficient to convince him that she was ready to take on a more physical role again.

Anna and her working persona of Muscovy had been very strong, capable and had demonstrated physically advanced expertise while wrestling him into submission and her method of restraining him had been both effective and clever. In order to examine him she had even gone so far as to keep him distracted by overwhelming his senses with the sight, scent and touch of her own plumes and body and neither Dirk nor Negaduck had been able to muster much of an objection to that. He also admitted to himself that unless he could convince her that he was dropping his investigation she wasn't going to take no for an answer about backing him up anymore and after that fight he had to admit that backup was probably smart.

As he pulled up next to the sidewalk beside the alleyway of the Old Haunt he set the kickstand and debated again about contacting some more of the Fearsome Five and cleaning house under the guise of pulling a caper of some kind…but he didn't know enough yet to plan anything effective. Once he found out where they were and what Bulba had planned; because no matter what people said Dirk Mallard knew that the bull was still kicking around and in charge; then he'd call in his gang and they would kick his cyborg *ss all the way to hell and slam the door on him but until then it was all legwork damn it all!

Entering the Old Haunt with his perpetual scowl firmly in place Negaduck peered out from under the brim of his hat to check for Muscovy but to his surprise, he didn't see her, not right away. Instead he saw what looked like unconscious bodies sprawled in a heap just in front of the bar where Bruce was calmly wiping the bar top down with what looked like one of his cleaning rags.

Bruce was clearly pretending blindness to everything on the side of the bar he wasn't on and at this Negaduck raised an eye ridge and glared at the pile of bodies before stepping on them to get to the bar. From the various groans and moans coming from them whoever had decimated the usual population of the place had done so very recently indeed but the most they did was to try feebly to protect their heads as the few conscious ones on top of the pile realized who was stomping on them.

Bruce glanced at him and ignoring the pile of customers, the barman gave him a two fingered salute and moved to the other end of the bar. Just as Negaduck opened his beak to ask for a whiskey and seat himself on his usual bar stool the jukebox clicked. He spun to face the machine and drew down on the figure that emerged from the shadowed area near the pool tables and in spite of himself his beak dropped open as Muscovy Duck dressed in her working costume finished securing a weasel onto the pool table like a hood ornament, patted the gaga in his mouth and stepped further towards the bar as a song began to play.

You better take it from me

That boy is like a fever in your blood

You're running

You're trying

You're trying to hide And you're wondering why you can't get free

He's like a curse

He's like a drug

You get addicted to his love

You wanna get out But he's holding you down

'Cause you can't live without one more touch

He's a good-time Cowboy Casanova….

As the sultry, voice of Collie Underwood's croon continued Muscovy moved towards him and he swiftly averted his gun as she strutted in time to the music and offered an almost demure smile saying, "I found you something…."

She circled the mallard of menace shaking her tail feathers slightly before kicking one of the bulldog fellows in biker leathers that had the misfortune to catch her eye as he raised his head and tried to crawl off the pile of bodies. He slumped back onto the pile as she continued to shimmy slightly in time to the music and the song continued….

He's a good-time Cowboy Casanova

Leaning up against the record machine

He looks like a cool drink of water

But he's candy-coated misery

He's the devil in disguise

A snake with blue eyes

And he only comes out at night

Gives you feelings that you don't want to fight

You better run for your life

I see that look on your face

You ain't hearin' what I say

So I'll say it again

'Cause I've been where you've been And I know how it ends

Together they swayed to the music and Muscovy changed the last lyric slightly as she crooned to Negs since she didn't actually think that Dirk was in any way deceiving her about his feelings. Their Spell Chains reacted to their feelings and all their feathers fluffed as the protections and other spells in them swirled around their wearers. Of course, Dirk and Anna had no way to see this, and physically the only manifestation of their love's empowering their defenses was the surges of energy that flowed between the twosome. That and the fact that as the music continued, their coats were now perfectly groomed and their costumes were as good as new and spotlessly clean.

You can't get away-ay

Don't look away from his eyes

He'll make your heart fly

And you wanna believe

But you won't be deceived

Swallowing hard Negaduck pulled himself together and looked past her to see that Bruce had discretely disappeared into the back storeroom. As the song finished, his gaze settled on the pool table and he shot the terrified weasel a death glare as he fixed his face into a scowl and released Muscovy. Irritated that this two-bit lowlife nobody had seen him doing something non violent he glared and stomped towards the pool table. The weasel squirmed desperately but Muscovy had secured him quite well and all he did was tighten the duct tape and pull his fur as Negaduck loomed closer.

Tapping a foot and crossing his arms over his yellow costume jacket Negaduck demanded, "okay Muscovy, I'll bite…what are you trying to prove here?"

His eyes narrowed behind his mask as he waited impatiently but to his surprise she offered without any sign of nerves instead she spoke quietly and offered, "Well, I know this is sudden, but when I heard what this fellow was trying to peddle I just couldn't take the chance that he might chat up the wrong person."

Surprised at this, Negaduck glanced at the pile of bodies just beside the bar and noticed that several of them were awake, at his glance they froze but he pretended not to have noticed them as he gestured casually toward the heap and asked, "Do you need to cull out any of these other losers? Or are we good with just this one?"

She nodded affirmatively and said, "the rest of them aren't involved as far as I know. When Bruce there started cleaning house I had to keep the one I wanted out of the way and the pool table was empty so…."

Nodding Negaduck barked out, "All right you losers…any one other than Bruce who is still in here by the time I turn around will have to try and dodge Mr. Chainsaw IF you want to live."

At this the pile scrambled and all of the formerly prone people dashed wildly for the doorway and windows in their haste to get away. Some of them had to be dragged out by comrades but alas for Mr. chainsaw all of them managed to get out leaving Negaduck to wander over to the pool table to stare once again at Muscovy's prisoner.

_In the next chapter I will reveal why Muscovy wanted to be certain that Negaduck heard directly from this weasel and I am also going to show Megavolt and his Gina in action If things work out as I hope. The song Cowboy Casanova is by Carrie Underwood and I DID change the lyrics slightly to fit better. In the ducky-verse she is a dainty dog-like canid with thick blonde hair and she is a Mega star crossover artist there too. I do not intend copyright infringement or disrespect to either Carrie or her songs and I hope this is considered a compliment that her song and official video reminded both Horsechick 27 and myself of Negaduck. Thank you for reading and I hope people enjoyed my efforts, your friend Irual._


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: As we all know by now, all of the characters created by the Disney Corporation and its various employees belong to them and they are being used to tell these plots without permission or profit. All the original characters that appear in my stories are created by me with help from my various friends since I am filling in the population of Disney's Ducky-verse to give the cannon characters new people to play with. This plot happens from approximately the end of July through the end of September and covers what occupied Negaduck, Megavolt and others while Darkwing was busy in Duckburg and the Monster realm during Trials & Tribulations, and Gosalyn's Past._

Megavolt chortled to himself as he contemplated the bank branch he had picked out to rob. He had already pulled off a couple of other robberies earlier in the month and he had rescued almost one hundred incandescent bulbs from a dumpster last night so he was in a particularly good mood. All he had to do was snatch some of the money from the delivery for the safe reserves and dump the die packs so Gina wouldn't be upset over the mess and their stash of cash would be replenished easy as pie.

Distracted suddenly by the thought of pie, Megavolt mumbled, "Mmmm I hope its blueberry pie and ice cream."

Elmo temporarily lost his focus and was unable to concentrate on his objective as he became distracted by the thought of the good food Gina insisted on feeding him; and by the thought of her just because she was now so important to him. This being so, Megavolt suddenly noticed the LED display on the sign in front of the bank and became fascinated by the flickering energy patterns in the light bulbs. The quiet place in his mind where Elmo usually was began to fill with the static-like buzzing that he knew meant that his excess charge was building again and he began to hear the LED bulbs chattering to him.

Almost hypnotized by this Megavolt started forward ignoring his Elmo side and carrying his new, improved materialization phaser over his shoulder. He was drawn to a halt by a gentle but very hard tug on his harness that kept his battery securely on his back. Surprised, since he hadn't remembered anyone else being involved in his quest to rescue his enslaved brothers and sisters he turned around and felt a gentle smack on his sensitive muzzle.

The resulting discharge of electrical energy and the now familiar sensation of his energy flowing through him and into Gina, combined with how unexpected the contact was, made him see stars. Startled, Megavolt staggered back slightly and uncrossed his eyes behind his goggles and glared indignantly at the slender, figure dressed in a wrap styled dress and sandals.

Gina smiled and planted a quick kiss on his mouth as a sort of apology for smacking him on his sensitive muzzle with the flat of her hand before stepping back and pulling a length of cloth over her head and wrapping it over herself to hide her appearance slightly. With a gentle wave and a smile she turned and went back into the side street and headed for the yellow VW bug and her lists of errands…. Megavolt had things to do and now that he was drained he should be able to keep on track at least for a while, especially since he was sharing this caper with another of the Fearsome Five.

Gina wasn't entirely sure what this Quackerjack person really thought of her…. But from what she could tell, the Avian was used to watching out for Megavolt and she was already late. This being so, she knew sticking around would only complicate things and the last thing they needed was to draw attention to Elmo or herself since they were comfortably settled into a routine at the lighthouse and their promise to Mintaka wouldn't be fulfilled until after September was over and that wouldn't be for another week.

Gina knew that the strange, mallard style duck in the Jester outfit had some other agenda in mind that would most likely mean an end to their plan to keep a low profile. Quackerjack kept trying to get Elmo alone, and his references to his 'new line' of playthings sent tremors of disquiet through her…but Negaduck seemed to rule all of them with a grip of steel and without question. From what Quackerjack had said, the masked criminal had sent him to back Megavolt up so they could look out for each other and stay out of trouble.

Much to Gina's surprise, her instincts were inclined to agree with Negaduck at least as far as having Quackerjack watch out for Megavolt on a crime caper anyway. She harbored no illusions about Negaduck or the fact that he considered Megavolt and the others of his gang to be his. And she also understood that the mallard would deal ruthlessly with anyone he felt to be a threat either to himself or anything he considered to be his.

However, her one meeting with the master criminal after they had returned to St. Canard had left her feeling rather confident about her connections to both Megavolt and Elmo. And although the fact that Negaduck had shown up at the lighthouse had really surprised both Elmo and Megavolt the visit had actually strengthened their relationship. And as much as she hated to admit it; Gina had to admit that she had been intimidated by both Negaduck and his female Muscovy. Negaduck hadn't said anything to her or Megavolt when he had appeared in the lighthouse with the masked female covering his back.

He had simply looked around at the kitchen with its baking bread and the Dutch oven that held vegetable stew and stomped into Megavolt's work area in the cellar dragging Megavolt with him and slamming the door behind them both. Muscovy hadn't said anything after being introduced nor had she made any threatening moves…but Gina had noticed that both ducks appeared to have recovered far faster then they should have from their injuries back when that terribly deformed bear had savaged them.

After some muffled talk in Megavolt's workroom Negaduck had stomped out and left without a word although Gina had thought that his considering gaze had held approval as he had left. Gina understood this about her sweet fellow though; Elmo wouldn't be able to remain in charge of himself all the time…not as Elmo Sputterspark the scientifically inclined inventor. He needed the energy output and adrenaline that his Megavolt persona used in order to think and function since his mind was so divided, and she already knew that trying to make her cuddles choose between her and his Clan would be nothing short of a disaster for them both.

This being so, she had decided to openly watch over Elmo and support his Megavolt side as much as she could; even though he regularly broke one of the rules of ten…as long as he didn't harm people and only took material things there was still hope and time to make up for what he did. Even as Megavolt he was becoming less and less susceptible to the crazed manias that took him over when his excess energy bled off into his mind, and since his physical health was already measurably better after only a couple of moons; Gina was actually hopeful that someday he would recover even more.

He was far more logical now and had actually been glad to agree to leave the hospitals, the orphanage and the convalescent homes alone which was the most she figured she could hope for until the rift in Elmo's mind healed more and his body adjusted to his new diet and care regimen. The added fact that draining Megs kept her feeling bubbly and energized and made her instincts seem even more keen was just a side benefit, but one she wanted to be sure and explore with Elmo once he finished with his work as Megavolt.

Ignoring her own twinges of conscience at the admission that she was aiding and abetting a criminal, Gina didn't look back at the unlikely duo hovering at the head of the alley, instead she bowed her head in a simple prayer for forgiveness and protection for all of them and went to finish the grocery shopping. Regular food and their playtimes always tended to stabilize them both, and her next round of classes started tomorrow so today was her best chance to stock up on the things they needed for the next week or so.

Gina sternly suppressed the urge to use the energy she had siphoned from Megavolt to make her connection with the earth active. If she did, it would be all to easy too convince the fault-lines in the rock beneath the city to move the buildings and such out of the way of her car. This temptation seemed to happen most often just after she drained Megavolt and then stayed around crowds and the busy energy of the city. But so far at least it wasn't something she found too hard to control….Gina closed her eyes at the red light and focused the way her mother had taught them to settle herself before continuing on towards the internet café where she could connect to her class schedule.

A couple of hours later, after dropping the groceries off back at the lighthouse, and checking the news to be sure Megavolt hadn't been apprehended; Gina changed her outfit to Elmo's favorite one. It was a green sari and boasted a matching scarf with simple embroidered patterns along the edge in gold and silver thread.

Knowing that it was important to establish herself as separate from Elmo and Megavolt, and that even if all went well Megavolt wasn't going to want any personal time until after he had satisfied his cohort's needs. Gina decided to indulge in a little personal time of her own and focus herself before looking for Elmo and Megs and bringing them home.

Ignoring the rude people who honked at her as the light changed color, Gina used her recently purchased parking sticker to park their car in the garage beside the Russian tea room. Resolutely she ignored the siren song of the incense and candles in the window of the next shop over before giving in to her need to feel some earth between her fingers. Going into the pottery barn to sculpt some green-ware pieces and make sure that the kindly old lady goose that ran the place knew she was there, Gina relaxed as she began to throw a pot on one of the clay wheels.

Besides being a good alibi, just in case she ever needed one, Mrs. Pinfeathers always listened to the police band on her scanner and this way she could kill two birds with one stone, figuratively speaking anyway. Of course if something came up and she needed to help her cuddles, then Mrs. Pinfeather's was also conveniently located since her pottery works was just down the block from the private garage that Quackerjack had recommended. Honestly, Gina most likely wouldn't have taken his advice about anything, except that Megs had had a vague recollection about the twin bears that had attached the parking sticker to their car and her instincts had gone off when she had shaken their hands and not in a bad way.

She hadn't told anyone of course, but shaking their hands had triggered a series of visions and she had used the images she had seen to look up the owner of The Velvet Rope. Gina had discovered that the female duck, Danielle Duck also owned most of the surrounding three block area and seemed to be not just a successful businesswoman but a major player in the local scene; although she hadn't been able to discover anything else yet.

She wasn't dumb and she figured that the bears had at least one other agenda they were seeing too since they hadn't been at all surprised or uncomfortable around Megavolt. But until she discovered who Lady Velvet was or how she knew Megs; Gina had decided to keep calm and go along with things since nothing bad had happened so far and according to Mother her instincts were usually right. If so, then her instincts either were overwhelmed by the press of the city, or those people meant them no harm…at least not now.

Quackerjack giggled at the look on Megavolt's face and snickered saying in a falsetto voice while holding his Mr. Banana-brain doll to his ear, "Awwww isn't that CUTE Mr. Banana-brain? The widdle wovers are kissing."

Megavolt turned from staring dreamily after Gina as she strode back towards the car and glared at Quackerjack as sparks danced between his fingers. Irritated, he demanded, "Watch it Quacky! Gina and I are NOT part of your jokes!"

Surprised Quackerjack tucked Mr. Banana-brain into the tunic of his jester outfit and nudged Megavolt on the shoulder. Grinning in a very male way he offered, "Sorry Megs," He widened his eyes and looked as sappy as possible, clasping his hands together dramatically as he giggled again and continued, "You just bring out the romantic in me…."

At this Megavolt snorted and giggled in response, his instinctive response to protect and defend Gina from harm submerging into his friendship with Quackerjack. The duck wasn't a rival for her, or anything after all…he was an Avian and not a rodent and Megavolt was fairly sure that Quacky had a relationship going with some lady duck. Even with Gina's help, he didn't remember much yet, not about mundane details anyway…. But since Gina had been with him and had become his girlfriend, both Elmo and Megavolt knew that his long-term memory was much better.

Megavolt grinned as he watched Gina's tail sway as she walked away. He could recall events that had happened in the last five years or so now, more or less…and he could remember almost all of his time with Gina. Although the order of these events was vague; and his memories of his time with the Fearsome Five was far clearer than anything else; he remembered about Elmo Sputterspark's family and past now too.

Elmo still couldn't recall much about high school, but from what he understood, that was likely no real loss since he had been a geek and most likely he had been very unpopular; or more likely bullied. In fact, other than extremely vague memories of an avian that had been his best friend and who wasn't Quacky, he was under the impression that his high school career was best left in the dark corners of his mind.

For some strange reason, the name Drake refused to leave his memories especially when he was Elmo and he was trying to remember personal things. Granted the name Drake was quite common for male Avian's especially duck-like ones…but Elmo had the feeling that this mysterious Drake had been a very important person to him once upon a time.

What had made him uncomfortable though and had triggered his need to get out of the lighthouse was that he had had the strangest feeling of déjà vu while reading the St. Canard Chronicle and the gossip pages that Gina favored. Gina hadn't been able to help him with that other than to try and distract him. But…his reaction to the gossip columnist's speculation over when the cities own caped and masked mysterious Avian protector Darkwing Duck was actually going to wed his fiancée Lady Morgana Macabre had made him restless and uneasy for several days now and neither Elmo nor Megavolt liked the feeling.

Megavolt was also pretty sure that despite how oddly Quackerjack acted, Quacky didn't use Channel 5 even though there were distinctive whiffs of that on him at times. Quackerjack was more likely to smell like bubble gum or metal oil and rubber from his various prototypes than perfume after all. This being the case, Quackerjack most likely had someone of his own especially since he loved to play dress up in dresses and he usually dragged Megavolt along for the 'fun'.

No one was THAT secure in their male bonding activities unless they had a girlfriend…and a very nearly a trophy one which would evoke all sorts of admiration as well as naughty thoughts in any male cohorts at that. This was of course, one of the main reasons why Megavolt had never brought the subject up himself after all, even when he had happened to remember it. Even though regular clothes were a lot more comfy than his hot, insulated jumpsuit and dresses and skirts were easy to pull on and off over their clothes…Megavolt hadn't wanted to chance being teased for liking the feel of the different fabrics against his fur.

Now that his memory was at least a little more accessible, Megavolt could also recall several instances when Quackerjack had been busy making and repairing some really old toys and playthings for some personal project of his that was most likely connected to his semi secret lady friend. As long as Quackerjack respected Gina, neither Megavolt nor Elmo was particularly interested in pursuing that line of thought.

So, with difficulty; he ignored the warm feeling in his chest from Gina's presence and turned toward the wall of the bank so he could decide where the best place to set up his phaser would be. Quackerjack meanwhile took several pairs of his wind up teeth out of his tunic and sent them to guard the alley where Megavolt's apparently now permanent girlfriend was getting into their car.

Negaduck had partnered them so they could finish stealing money from the banks in the area, but he hadn't shown up to demand a cut of the last two robberies. That meant their boss was busy with a scheme and most likely he was thinking of them and how to use their abilities again so it was best to get their personal business finished so they could be ready to jump when Negaduck shrieked how high otherwise playtime was going to be painful and not in a good way….

Ignoring his twinge of fear at that thought, Quackerjack watched attentively as Megavolt frowned at the back wall of the bank and absently they dodged two sets of wind up teeth that were chasing each other back and forth like a pair of puppies while the digital clock display on the sign in front of the bank ticked off another minute….

Bruce prided himself on his nerves of steel and he was fairly sure that the glowering Avian seated on the bar stool in front of him wasn't going to do anything physical to him; but he still had to watch himself to keep his nerves from showing. Bruce was careful not to look down at the weasel that was bound and gagged at the Avian's feet though since he didn't want to trigger anything more here.

Negaduck was usually one of the people most likely to respect the Old Haunt's neutral status but Bruce wasn't sure that was going to hold true in this case…he also wondered what the weasel had done to trigger such a reaction though. The shivering wreck of the weasel was most likely already dead no matter what else happened and Bruce's conscience was whispering to him that as a law enforcement officer he ought to at least try and save the pitiful creature's life.

But even the masked lady duck who had fingered the weasel was being ignored and Bruce knew that if she couldn't influence the master criminal glowering into the remnants of the glass of pureed fruit that he had just finished then there wasn't anything that he could do…. Not without destroying his cover and possibly even dying so Bruce did his best to ignore both his conscience and the weasel as he set up a round of cocktails for the two ducks. Serving them both the alcohol and replacing the empty fruit juice glasses they had requested with a bowl of chilled sliced fruit; Bruce started to move back into the storeroom to give them the privacy to do what they wanted so he wouldn't directly witness anything.

He could contact Jerry, his second here in the bar and send a status report to Director Hooter just to keep him up on things too, it wasn't earth shattering news to discover that two rats were living in the automated lighthouse on the waterfront, but…. Bruce was far from stupid and he had figured out that Negaduck wouldn't concern himself with anything that trivial unless there was more to it. Most likely the two rats that Negaduck was concerned about had something to do with the current shakeups and Bruce already knew that Megavolt was actively robbing banks for stashes of old cash from their safety deposit boxes and vaults.

Struck by this thought, Bruce paused as the light bulb went on in his head and he made what he thought was the connection between this seemingly minor bit of information and Negaduck's extreme emotional reaction to it. Hoping his professional expression held, he tucked his cleaning rag away and started for the storeroom; if the weasel had been trying to sell the location of one of Megavolt's hideouts then he was lucky to have survived as long as he had.

In the underground of St. Canard a lapse in judgment like that was almost immediately fatal especially trying to sell out one of the Fearsome Five here! Most likely the weasel's mistake would be fatal for anyone else involved as well, if Negaduck suspected that anyone else had made a connection then…. Negaduck's strong fingers gripped his wrist and halted Bruce in his tracks before he had gone more than a step though, and he cursed his nerves as he felt sweat starting to dampen his fur,

The masked duck's other hand absently traced the line of Muscovy's slender hand as it rested on the bar top before his deep graveled voice sounded in the empty bar saying, "Stop right there…I want to make sure we understand each other Dog-man."

Bruce glanced at Negaduck whose steely, ice blue eyes glared at him from under the brim of his slouch hat and instinctively he straightened knowing that to show weakness would be the same as admitting to guilt in Negaduck's world. Without waiting for a response, the Avian continued, "I don't want any trouble from the minions of the law over this…."

He gestured casually to the prisoner at his feet and said, "I can't risk this knob's causing me any trouble, what with Taurus Bulba's old gang reestablished in St. Canard. I want you to get rid of this looser for me."

Negaduck tucked an SD card into Bruce's hand as he released the dog's wrist and finished as he helped Muscovy off of her barstool and moved to the door. "And you can let old Hooter know that I'll let you know if I find the other mechanical engineers and lab techs that have gone missing; but Darkwing will be more likely more help there than me. I have my own tail to look after and that includes the Five and St. Canard…especially against the likes of them!"

The lethal Avian paused to grin in an almost amused way as Bruce shook his wrist and watched them from his place by the bar with his jaw hanging open like an archaic fly trap. Not only was his cover apparently non existent, but Negaduck himself was telling the forces of law and order to get on the ball! One of Negaduck's many sharp knives plunged just to the side of the bar just above the brass rod at the foot of the bar where he had left the semi-conscious weasel who fainted as the knife blade vibrated just beside his black button nose.

As he left Negaduck's eyes gleamed a little even from across the room as he added, "What, you didn't think I trusted you enough to accept food and drink from you without figuring out what you are really doing here did you? Don't worry…I've suspected you were one of Hooter's ever since I first came here…but better the devil you know right? No one will find out about you from us…and as far as I know no one else even suspects you are anything but the barkeep here and that you answer to who ever owns this dump. With Hooter keeping Darkwing on a tighter leash now, S.H.U.S.H. is too slow on the uptake, just do what you need to with both my little gifts and you can consider your cover safe."

With that the Mallard of Menace roared away into the gathering night while the undercover S.H.U.S.H. agent held an internal debate about his role here. He ignored his apprehension and cuffed the weasel to the brass bar that patrons used as a foot rest when they sat on the barstools and called the direct line to Director Hooter's office…. Bruce knew that he was an integral part of the information net that kept the agency ready to react to local trouble and with Negaduck himself warning them about the Cybrog and knowing just how dangerous the situation was ; now was no time to stand on protocol and regulations. Besides, when he had chosen to be assigned to this, instead of being dumped in R & D or accepting a medical discharge Bruce had always hoped to be able to follow his friend Drake Mallard's example and get around the rule book.

Bruce let a brief memory of the incredibly determined duck flash through his mind while he waited to be connected and as his hand tightened protectively on the little SD card he muttered to himself with a smile, 'Drake would be proud of me, I just hope First Agent Grizzlikof remembers I have medical restrictions when he assigns my punishment detail….'

He locked himself in the small back room and hit the button on his cuff that would summon Jerry to reopen the bar. Shrugging into his plain black leather jacket as Jerry hustled inside, the two of them secured the now faintly stirring weasel in the back room and blindfolded him. Then Bruce hurried outside and began limping down the sidewalk he heard Benji open the line and said in a firm no nonsense voice, "I'm coming in from the cold and I need a blanket from the top shelf…."

Tucking the phone in his pocket and hurrying as fast as he could he took a taxi to the café where he usually ate and went inside to contact one of the extraction units. He was going to have to find out what Director Hooter wanted him to do about what Negaduck had said about him as well as make sure that the back up unit could watch Jerry. Negaduck was evidently even sharper than anyone had suspected and if he had made the connection between him and S.H.U.S.H. then most likely Jerry was compromised too even though Negaduck hadn't mentioned his partner.

_I hope everyone is enjoying this and if all goes well there should be one more chapter that will finish up this story and then hopefully I can concentrate on Kings & Pawns and a collaborative AU story I am working on with Lady Mallard tentatively called 00Duck which we should be posting in August. This is inspired by the James Bond movies (in case you hadn't guessed) and as always I am hoping for reviews or other responses although just getting these plots written is a bonus for me; enjoy everyone! Irual_


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: All of the characters and other intellectual properties invented by the employees of the Disney Corporation belong to their inventors and to the Disney Company. I have filled out the cast of characters and other various things in order to tell my plots but I receive NO money for any of this and I am using their inventions without their permission. All I receive is feedback and the satisfaction of telling the story and hopefully the chance to improve my skills in writing. Thanks in advance for reading this and I hope everyone enjoys what they read, your friend Irual._

Director Hooter waited patiently as the tall, heavyset dog-like agent that usually manned the Old Haunt followed Benji out of the room, his permanent knee injury still evident from his slight limp. The local situation was definitely spiraling out of control; if they had ever been in control….It really was a pity that so many of that class had been involved in the incident that had forced them to send Drake overseas and to reshuffle so many of their brightest recruits into support positions. But James Hooter knew that Bruce and Jerry were a godsend at times like this…. Without Darkwing or support agents like them to be eyes and ears locally for the agency; S.H.U.S.H. wouldn't be able to help the police or garner support to defend the population of law abiding citizens nearly as well as they did.

Hooter was severely tempted to send a flashquack to try and contact Darkwing, that way there would be some time between when the vigilante styled operative got the message and his having to explain the situation. But he knew that putting this off would only be a pointless exercise and probably cowardly as well.

Ignoring his nerves and carefully tucking a copy of the SD card that Bruce had given him into a protective plastic cover, James Hooter straightened his shoulders and assumed his usual confident manner. As he waited to be connected to Darkwing tower, he debated just how much to tell Darkwing about Negaduck's strange, almost reconciliatory behavior.

James knew that something was different about the self-styled public enemy number one, but this was very unexpected even for his changing behavior patterns. In the last four months the master criminal hadn't staged a single major public crime in the tri state area, although he had evidently been quite busy behind the scenes. In fact, since Darkwing's public coming out in July all of the Fearsome Five had been remarkably quiet and so had most of the other more outré villains that called the area home. Furthermore, from what little S.H.U.S.H. had been able to discover, most of the criminals in St. Canard whether super powered or not, had been keeping a remarkably low profile lately.

James sighed as he continued to assess the evidence before him. Honesty forced him to admit to himself quite unhappily…that despite their recent efforts, since they had been without Darkwing's services and 'outside the box' methods S.H.U.S.H.'s information on the cities criminals wasn't as complete as regulations demanded and that handicap was costing them. According to this, the underground was actually gearing up to try and survive the rumored imminent return of Taurus Bulba but there had been no substantial proof of any of that…until now.

Granted, there had been speculation that Negaduck had somehow been behind the attacks on various research labs and the recent attempted kidnappings that S.H.U.S.H. was still trying to unravel as well…. But Hooter hadn't given those rumors much credence even before this, especially not once Sarah Bellum had reported seeing the second caped, masked and slouch hat wearing duck leaving the scene of her rescue.

The CSI teams had found shell casings and slugs around the van that matched the type Negaduck used but no one had been substantially harmed. The prisoners hadn't been too coherent either but they had all insisted that the duck firing the gun hadn't been Darkwing. Darkwing's unique, spent cartridges had been gathered up as well as samples of adhesive, florescent dye and even cloth swatches that they had matched to his costume samples on file and Negaduck's as well.

Sarah had theorized that the two mallards had apparently been arguing or fighting nearby and most likely Darkwing had been trying to capture the other duck using non lethal means hence the extensive physical signs of damage to their attire. Both of their costumes had shown nearly identical signs of their struggles in the video footage that had been recovered but from Darkwing's actions he hadn't been physically hurt from his encounter with either Dirk or the kidnappers. And since the video footage had shown Negaduck to be as sleek, deadly and as stealthy in his retreat as ever he had been it was likely he hadn't been damaged either.

Dr. Bellum had surmised that somehow Darkwing had realized that her kidnapping was happening and Darkwing had changed priorities and somehow convinced Negaduck to break off their encounter in order to save her. Most of the evidence said that the two of them had worked together to stop the kidnappers but no one was certain of anything other than the fact that Sarah's kidnapping had been foiled and that Negaduck and Darkwing had both been present.

To his surprise and slight embarrassment there was no response to his attempt to contact Darkwing in his lair. Then Hooter blushed slightly remembering that the entire team of the Justice Ducks was on medical leave until October and it was only September 26th. Hooter understood that Darkwing had always been conveniently available when he had lived and breathed his crime fighting career; but he had to admit that the duck behind the mask was much happier and more effective now that he had a life outside his hat and cape. That didn't mean that it wasn't a bit disconcerting to have to leave a message though…not to mention inconvenient.

Snorting to himself at his own impatience and hubris James switched off his monitor and dialed the private number for Drake's cell phone. Now unsurprised at the lack of response there too; he left a message and then reluctantly settled in to finish authorizing back ups for the information network. Darkwing would show up sooner or later but until then it was going to have to be business as usual; S.H.U.S.H. had too many irons in the fire for him to spend more time on this just now.

After filling out the most urgent set of forms he turned again to the SD card that Bruce had turned in and Director Hooter felt a strange sense of déjà vu as he scanned the concise and thorough files denoting an investigation that rivaled one of S.H.U.S.H.'s for depth and persistence if not actual proofs. Everything that was provable had been carefully noted with correlating facts and dates while the more circumstantial bits were notated as theory's but what made a chill go down Hooter's spine that he couldn't ignore was when he reached in his desk for the USB stick Darkwing had given him about three weeks ago.

James had always known Drake was far more organized and thorough than his actions on the street showed and his reports showed this unmistakably. The information on the USB stick was far more in depth than the new card, and the files were as meticulous as the new information…. But as Hooter compared the information that Darkwing and presumably his twin had made certain to provide him, evidently independently of one another…. Hooter knew that the situation was fast coming to a head. He also couldn't deny that St. Canard was directly in the crosshairs of a confrontation that was likely to rip the city and it's citizens apart.

While investigating the poison smuggling for Scrooge McDuck, Darkwing had come across several instances of shipments of materials in types and quantities that were likely being used to construct or reconstruct F.O.W.L. instillations. Presumably that was one of the reasons why F.O.W.L. had been scrambling to protect its core personnel and properties on the international level. At least that was the conclusion that Darkwing had reached while correlating his findings with the worldwide S.H.U.S.H. data bases.

Hooter had to admit that F.O.W.L.'s lack of local activity in the last four to six months and the rumors of Steelbeak's being seen in cahoots' with the Capon's certainly substantiated this…. While gathering information and tracing shell corporations DW had also figured a pattern to the various incidents from other agents around the world and eventually in North America that indicated that whoever was decimating F.O.W.L.'s holdings had come perilously close to home. And then for some currently unknown reason the attacks had stopped about two months ago.

Splitting the screen Director Hooter gazed at the evidence before his eyes and shook his head. Not for the first time since he had been informed of the uncanny and faintly disturbing physical and mental similarities between Drake and Dirk Mallard about a year ago, Hooter wondered exactly how they had been separated and who could have kept them apart for so for so long. From everything S.H.U.S.H. had gathered, whoever had imprisoned Dirk in the Negaverse had done their level best to keep him there; and he had been anything but a willing prisoner. But until the Mage-born had connected the two mallards back in May at Dirk's request Hooter had to admit that he hadn't realized how much that renewed contact would stabilize both of the brothers.

At first S.H.U.S.H. had tried to explain the Negaverse and the master criminal Negaduck with an alternate universe theory that had proven to have a small amount of actual truth to it. But when Dirk had been incarcerated in S.H.U.S.H. custody the second time, after his attempt to steal the superpowers of the others in the Fearsome Five with the Mystic Eye; Sarah Bellum and her think tank of assistants had come up with the theory of the Negaverse being a prison of some sort.

Sarah had been tightlipped and even invoked Doctor/Patient privileges for most of the information she had acquired in the therapy sessions she had used to try and help him…but what she had revealed had been the stuff of nightmares that still haunted Hooter whenever he had to reference the reports she HAD filed. But the fact that Dirk had become so proactive in trying to reconcile himself with his twin was certainly a change that needed to be addressed…especially if what their conjecture was indicating turned out to be true.

Doggedly putting aside his speculating and carefully copying both the SD card and the USB stick to hard files in the archive Director Hooter decided that it would be best to prepare a mission briefing for the Justice Ducks that would encompass defending the city and finding Taurus Bulba. After a strong cup of tea and a few more minutes contemplation he decided to try and broach the subject of Dirk to Drake again.

Strictly speaking it wasn't really his business, since so far at least; both Drake and Darkwing had managed to keep themselves above reproach in regards to the other mallard. But no one had ever been able to say that James G. Hooter didn't learn from his mistakes and after the debacle with young Bolt and his family he had decided that putting this off wasn't going to be an option.

Dr. Bellum was trying to work on the issue with Drake as part of their monthly sessions but she was very busy and Drake was reluctant to face this issue. James figured that nudging him couldn't hurt especially not since Darkwing and Drake both were going to be back on active duty by the time they returned.

Ignoring the butterflies in his middle at the thought of what was likely to happen when he had that little conversation…and thinking carefully, James knew it would only be sensible to make certain of his relationship to Drake and Darkwing before addressing the entire team of the Justice Ducks. He had already decided that it would be best to address this as both Director Hooter, Darkwing's boss and as James, Drake's mentor and friend.

Although how he was going to broach the subject would be touchy at best and it would likely be emotional so keeping Darkwing from disappearing in an emotional frenzy would be crucial. At least Darkwing wasn't scheduled to come in until sometime Wednesday so he had two days to decide on his approach and depending on the outcome of that meeting he could hopefully have Darkwing brief the rest of his team.

With the psychological reports he had read and his own observations, James also admitted that so far at least things seemed to be working out as Sarah and the Mage-born healer had predicted; but there was no sense taking chances. As the Lady Agatha Crumm had put it, 'Either one and most assuredly both of the brothers were capable of great deeds. It all depended on what the deeds were as to how everyone else perceived them.'

Taking a deep, cleansing breath Director Hooter admitted that so far, it was looking as though they were reacting in a far more reformed manner than he had any right to expect…but things could change and he needed to be prepared. Resolutely Hooter toggled the switch that would summon First Agent Grizzlikof and Benji and spun the monitor so he could show them the reports and information while he briefed them.

According to Griz, S.H.U.S.H. was even more behind in the information aspects of the situation than usual. Lady Velvet had been busily feeding S.H.U.S.H.'s first agent information ever since that pedophile had been taken into custody and she had discovered her establishment had been involved however peripherally with his attempt at escaping justice. Griz was also of the opinion that St. Canard's top female criminal was hoping to garner some goodwill for herself and her people to help her ride out the coming crisis as well as convince S.H.U.S.H. of her sincerity but James had yet to meet her in person so he was reserving judgment on that until he could see her for himself.

Ignoring Tuskernini was proving to be quite a task, but Steelbeak was trying since it behooved him to set a good example. This meeting had been called by his grandfather and even if no one here knew that, Old Gentleman Joe did and Steelbeak didn't want to risk ticking off the old gangster. Grandson or not it wasn't healthy to do things like that, especially not where other criminals would witness it. And Chanticleer thought he was doing a fairly good job of being a good example too, right up until the blubbery walrus's trio of penguins accidentally landed on his foot and made him spill his martini on his suit. Cursing his misfortune, Steelbeak picked one of the hapless penguins up and used him to try and wipe the remains of the drink off of his jacket.

Tuskernini paused in his monolog about his great directing and started over to rescue his minions when the door to the half finished convention hall swung open again to admit Megavolt, Quackerjack, Liquidator and Bushroot. The presence of four of the Fearsome Five entering in a group gave the rest of the room pause. In the ensuing moment of silence the slight thud of the silent penguin minion dropping onto his cohorts as Steelbeak stepped forward to see better sounded unnaturally loud.

Taking this as his cue, the rooster said confidently, "A ah aha…well, well it looks like the gangs all here, or at least most of youse. To what do we owe de pleasure?"

To no ones surprise, Liquidator surged to the forefront of the group and acting as their spokesperson he said in a firm and yet bubbly voice, "Clinical research studies clearly show that no meeting of career criminals is complete without the Fearsome Five."

The small gang of criminals looked around the room without seeming to care that they were outnumbered. But to the consternation of the crowd it was Quackerjack who reacted first…. Noticing that several other criminals in the crowd looked less than welcoming as well as the fact that Steelbeak's body language and personal confidence said that something more was going on than they had expected; and also understanding that nearly everyone who was anyone in St. Canard's underworld seemed to be in attendance….

Quackerjack decided that it was high time the criminals in attendance remembered exactly who they were trying to insult. He promptly whipped one of his classic teddy bears out of whatever hiding place in his costume usually held such things. As the brown, stuffed bear stood on its hind legs and toddled forward of the quartet of super villains Quackerjack's fingers were busy with the buttons of his remote control.

At the flip of a switch and the pressing of a button the bear grew to three times its size and a flamethrower ignited from his mouth causing everyone but those in Quackerjack's group to rethink their position and step back. The lethal toy flexed its forepaws causing razor sharp blades to spring from its fingers and a menacing growl sounded from the region of its chest.

Seemingly oblivious to this display, Liquidator gestured to his fellows and added persuasively, "Our super powers are more than just a crowd pleasing diversion…."

Megavolt stepped up and sent a charge through the teddy that made its eyes glow and its motions became far more fluid as the electrical energy from the rat caused the teddy's motor functions to become far more fluid and lifelike. The now faster than natural bear promptly ran forward and sank its claw blades into the podium near the front of the stage and demolished the stand in only a few minutes.

The rest of the room was less than pleased at this display of minor destruction by Quackerjack's bear. The criminals nearest the stage all had unusual modus operandi of their own and since the Fearsome Five had been very low key lately, it was inevitable that someone would try and take advantage of what could be seen as weakness.

This being the case, it was Molearti who stepped up aggressively flanked by two of his fellow moles to demand, "what exactly are we all doing here anyway? I have an entire civilization of moles at my command. Why should we even care about any of you surface dwellers?"

He was dressed in a suit jacket, vest and tie and clearly his companions had no objections to his claim over them, and they swung their pick axes forward aggressively as their leader started to say something more. Quackerjack's teddy turned to growl at the moles as the two in hard hats equipped with mining lamps and overalls promptly pinned the toy to the floor. Enraged at having his bear pinned to the floor like a butterfly in a collectors case, Quackerjack growled and stated forward only to be halted by Liquidator who put a hand in front of his chest.

Looking much more aggressive now, Liquidator nodded to Bushroot and grinned in a most unpleasant way. At this, Bushroot gestured and the potted palms beside the main entrance grew to monstrous size slamming the doors shut with an ominous bang. In spite of themselves most of the crowd jumped at this and almost immediately jumped again as a loud engine roared to life behind them. A speaking area had been set up and kept clear of the crowd by suit wearing, armed toughs towards the front of the enormous room.

However, even they scrambled out of the way as The Troublemaker; Negaduck's unique motorcycle drove to a halt beside the ruined podium, the twitching remains of the teddy and the microphone that was miraculously still intact on the stand behind where the podium had been. Negaduck revved the motor and then leaped off the seat to stand imperiously to the side of the microphone and tapped a foot impatiently…. Clearly he was waiting with ill grace for something and as most of the crowd waited nervously with their attention uncomfortably divided between the other four members of his gang, or fixed on the volatile mallard depending on who was closer; the something Negaduck had been waiting for appeared.

Old Gentleman Joe Capon stepped calmly out onto the stage in a classically styled, grey, pinstriped suit that set off his now faintly ivory colored plumage. Fluffing his red comb and wattle, the rooster moved with panache and strength to step up to the microphone, while ignoring the mess that had been made of the podium as Negaduck glared menacingly at the rogue's gallery assembled before them. Negaduck's gang moved calmly toward the middle of the crowd and a space opened around them as the nearest villains realized their peril and gave plenty of space to Quackerjack's toys that he undoubtedly had still on his person and the rest of the Fearsome Five, all of whom were now looking and acting far more aggressive and dangerous that they had before Molearti had spoken.

Pulling Mr. Chainsaw from somewhere behind his back and threatening to start the engine Negaduck growled and demanded, "Let's get on with this already!"

Seemingly unconcerned at the proximity of the chainsaw Gentleman Joe took the mike from it's stand and asked calmly, "If I could have your attention then we will get on with this."

Most of the room was still buzzing a bit as those further back in the crowd muttered and shifted uneasily. Negaduck turned slightly so he could see Gentleman Joe and so managed not to react as the ancient gangster grabbed a handgun from one of his bodyguard's with impressive speed and fired it into the air.

The room went absolutely silent as Gentleman Joe continued to speak as though nothing unusual had happened saying, "I'm not young anymore and I don't have all day. Running a business nowadays is best left to those younger than myself…but I haven't spent the last fifty years knitting. And I have no intentions of giving up my lifetimes work or my families interests to THIS!"

At this a screen lowered behind the microphone stand and a grainy, still-shot of what could have been an extremely small jet plane appeared. Then the image came clearer into focus and video played showing that the plane was actually a half bull half plane and the cyborg was using missiles and lasers to decimate some kind of armored convoy. The video continued to play and some panicked audio joined the images as the destruction continued.

The focus of the recording device that had gathered these images switched wildly between various shots of the frantic people being chased down as they abandoned the burning and exploding vehicles and frames showing different weapons being brought to bare on targets by the cyborg. Most of the room was at least vaguely if not intimately familiar with F.O.W.L.'s distinctive Eggman styled helmets and yellow jumpsuits that they dressed their general henchmen in….

Even though the crowd consisted of hardened criminals and career law breakers, the audience flinched and a collective gasp went up as the frightened Eggmen cowering before their assailant were rounded up for slaughter. As the cyborg Taurus Bulba announced his name and prepared to exude a huge gout of flame on them and flambé them alive from the flamethrower that he rotated out of his right arm after he retracted his wings and jet engine though, the helpless and hapless minions saw the bull pause and glance to his left. The audience could see the lens in his electronic eye twirl as he focused on whatever had caught his attention and the camera angle switched to another bunker hidden under a boulder on the right side of the cliff face.

From this new angle the now rapt audience could see that the hidden bunker that had originally been recording this footage had suffered a fatal flaw in its camouflage or possibly that the personnel in the bunker had been unable to sit idly by while their comrades were slaughtered horribly. A small group of either brave, stupid or suicidal Eggmen had crept out of their hiding place and attempted to sneak up on Taurus Bulba with hand held missile launchers and other weapons.

Unfortunately for them, some automatic threat assessment system built into the bull had detected their weapons and alerted the monstrous creature who had turned his attentions towards this new threat. This did give the first group of victims the chance to run for it, which they did with commendable presence of mind and alacrity.

Meanwhile, the other group tried to organize themselves for a surprise attack that wasn't a surprise anymore with pathetic results. Snorting in contempt, Taurus didn't even bother with his array of high tech options as he plowed physically into the group of enemies clustered together on the hillside. Instead he powered his way through them with his sheer strength and then flew away after grabbing several large crates from the remnants of the convoy. Gentleman Joe touched a button and the images froze just as the scorched remains of the convoy exploded a final time.

Framed by this fiery image, Gentleman Joe stepped slightly to the side of the screen and gestured to his left saying, "Now then, I understand that most of you feel as though you can take care of yourselves pretty well…and everyone here has their own agenda. But…this isn't my first rodeo and if we don't stop this threat then HE will stop us!"

Splatter Phoenix snorted contemptuously and stepped forward in her garish, black and green outfit. Her huge, tangled hairdo and clunky combat boots screamed that the slender female was still stuck in the eighties, and her various zippers and pockets shouted that she was unconcerned with others opinions as far as her fashion choices. But what made the rest of the room pause and moved nervously away from her was the fact that she held her hands on her hips and glared at Negaduck before whipping a paintbrush from one of her many pockets.

Swiping the brush through the air as though she was actually holding a deadly weapon she said, "HA! No refuge from a junk shop can stand against my artistic army"

With this she made a few passes with her paintbrush and three winged bombs with lit fuses appeared and swooped towards Gentleman Joe but before they could get further than the front of the crowd they were intercepted by three other bombs that exploded them fairly harmlessly.

Glaring at Negaduck who was standing on the edge of the stage, another lit bomb in his hand and his chainsaw on his shoulder, Splatter demanded, "What sort of anti-conformist stunt is this?"

The impact from the small bombs did send most of the crowd towards the sides of the room though which gave Splatter the room she needed to whip up one of her huge, toaster-headed minions. Furious at the interruption Splatter continued, "Pose and preen all you want, but your mundane taste in weaponry and tactics will be your undoing when faced with my innovative techniques!"

At this her toaster-headed and gorilla bodied creation stood up and reached for the masked mallard who sighed. Looking bored and more than a little pissed, as he tossed his remaining bomb towards the toaster on its neck; Negaduck narrowed his eyes and glared at the crowd before making his move. Granted the thing didn't have visible eyes, but the impact of the bomb exploding did stagger the thing just enough for Negaduck to avoid its grasp and leap for its shoulders. Revving his chainsaw he divided the thing down the middle and rode one half to the floor.

Ignoring the fact that it was still moving and that both halves were trying to stand, he growled, "Enough of this crap!" and pulling a canister of turpentine out of his jacket he melted the thing and gestured to his gang.

Bushroot promptly wrapped one of his vine-like arms around Splatter immobilizing her arms and muttered softly, "Sorry about this but you need to listen." Before wrapping her shapely beak shut with his other hand.

Outraged, she tried to struggle as her toaster-headed minion continued to dissolve into a multi-colored puddle on the floor. Bushroot was quite strong and flexible so all she managed was to force Bushroot to hold her indecently close as his arms tightened around her. Trying to ignore the fact that a shapely female Avian was pressed against him, far closer than anyone usually got much less a female; Bushroot struggled with his composure. Fortunately his dark green skin tone hid most of his blush and he could blame anything else on exertion since Splatter was actually putting up quite a fight.

She for her part was incensed at the casual way in which Negaduck had not only defeated her precious creations but at being held hostage in front of most of the upper echelon of St. Canard's criminal population. To her humiliation though, she found herself unable to get free and Negaduck turned in a slow circle to glare at the rest of the now cowed criminals in the room. Liquidator washed the puddle of turpentine and what was left of her minion into a trashcan and then swept Molearti and his two moles off their feet so they couldn't dig their way out until Negaduck was done explaining the realities of the situation to them.

Stepping forward, Negaduck nodded respectfully to Gentleman Joe and his now thoroughly uncomfortable bodyguards before Quackerjack bounced around the room releasing toys every few feet. Megavolt's plug shaped hat sparked as he flexed his fingers and stood bouncing on the balls of his feet and he began firing tiny bolts from his fingers and energizing Quackerjack's toys.

The rest of the room was starting to panic as they tried to keep some space between themselves and the insane toymakers creations when Negaduck barked out, "Calm down you knobs. I for one intend to send Bulba packing but…I am not going to do all the dirty work while the rest of you hide in some hole."

He grimaced and grabbed Quackerjack, who had just completed the circuit of the room and shoved the other duck roughly back toward the rear of the room and the projector before continuing, "Stop fooling around and set up the next part of the show Quackerjack."

Looking a bit disappointed at the fact that his toys weren't going to be unleashed on the room at large just yet Quackerjack agreed in Mr. Banana-brain's falsetto voice, "Alright, sleep tight…don't let the cyborg bite."

Negaduck's eyes narrowed warningly but the other mallard was already almost to the projector so Negaduck waited with ill grace and in a minute a new image showed up on the screen behind Gentleman Joe who had turned to look as well.

Gesturing to his gang and then to the room at large Negaduck stated calmly, "We are the top criminals in the pecking order and its us Bulba will be gunning for if he plans on taking over. But honestly I think he's going to be more interested in destroying St. Canard and us than he is in taking over. IF we are lucky, he might strike the minions of the law first…."

As Negaduck continued to speak more and more of the villains and criminals in the audience were drawn into his presentation and from her place hidden in the projection booth Muscovy Duck smiled to herself as she watched her mallard dominate the room.

Seated quietly at the back of the projection booth was Gina Gaia, she had come with Megavolt and agreed to remain hidden; but she wasn't enjoying this as much as Muscovy seemed to be. Her cuddles had been remarkably calm throughout this whole thing but since he hadn't done anything other than stand with the others, and charge up a few toys; his excess energy was likely building up and Gina didn't like the thought of Megsy losing his focus in this meeting. Gina wasn't as sure about this whole plan of Negaduck's either even though she did see his point about having to defend their homes from the cyborg.

Gina fingered the braided gold chain with the strange charms on it that Elmo had given her last week. The cube and the triangle were made of carved wood and bone and the ovals were some sort of dark metal that made her fur fluff a little but Elmo had been very persuasive and since he wore an identical chain and charms; she hadn't been able to resist his gift. She knew perfectly well that these were more than just decorative, and that Negaduck had been inordinately pleased about something when they had met him and the rest of his gang yesterday. Negaduck hadn't objected to her backing Elmo up or being involved once he had seen the necklace. He had raised an eye ridge and growled warningly at Megavolt to ensure that both rats knew he was still in charge; but as long as she didn't interfere with his leadership and agreed to obey him he had agreed to allow her the same access to his plans as Megavolt. His expression had been unreadable after this announcement, but he had commented that she was proving to be useful since Megavolt had responded intelligently to Negaduck's briefing once Negaduck had said that.

Gina had seen the calculating look in his eyes and the calm, predatory gleam behind Negaduck's mask had been enough warning for her to be cautious; especially since Muscovy acted as though their posturing was expected. Her earth sense was a solid presence in her mind now, and ever since Megsy had gifted her with the chain she felt even more solidly connected to her cuddles. When they weren't together she found that her biggest problem was resisting the urge to use her influence with the earth to clear the city of most of the polluters but so far she was managing; especially since Negaduck had agreed to let her remain close to her sweetums once she had given him a very small demonstration of what she could do by bringing down part of one of the construction sites across town the night before yesterday.

The fierce storms earlier in the week had stirred the bay and swept the city clean of its usual build up of pollution, which meant that the only thing bothering her now was the crowd in the room around Megavolt; but as long as the Fearsome Five were in control Gina was going to honor her agreement and stay with Muscovy….

_Alrighty, this seems to be the end of this plot, since I am mainly introducing Gina and establishing her and Megs as a couple as well as trying to show Negaduck making some progress in his plots. Or at least trying to anyway…and IF all goes well, Bushroot will be featured in a plot soon. First I intend to try and finish Kings & Pawns or at least get more of it posted; and start 00Duck which should be beginning fairly soon. Also please keep in mind that I gladly accept requests and will address anything that is brought to my attention as far as plot holes or mistakes. Thank you very much for reading and please review, your friend Irual_


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